On the Run for Freedom
by LastOrder1
Summary: A prequel to 'Fight for Freedom' Zack and Cloud have just escaped from the lab and they're both on the run from Shin-Ra. Will they both make it to the big city of Midgar? Or will only one survive?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7 or any of the Final Fantasy 7 characters. Final Fantasy 7 and the Final Fantasy 7 characters rightfully belongs to Square-Enix. I own nothing.**

**Hello everyone. This story was inspired by 'In the Shadow of Freedom' by chibipinkbunny. So anyone here who likes this story, than you'll probably like hers a lot too. This is a prequel to my previous story 'Fight for Freedom', this story focuses on Zack Fair and Cloud Strife's escape from the lab on up to where 'Fight for Freedom' began. Thanks to chibipinkbunny, I got a beta reader for this chapter. The beta reader for this chapter was Blue Jae. Thank you so very much Blue Jae and chibipinkbunny for helping me out a lot on this chapter, I really appreciate it. Hopefully, I did a good job at fixing it up, with a lot of help from Blue Jae of course. Thanks to them, I think that this is a lot better now. Anyways, please review to tell me what you all think. There's some cussing in here too, just to warn you all. Anyways, please enjoy.**

**On the Run for Freedom**

**Chapter 1**

The moon light from the night sky shines down from the heavens above. Two young men emerge from a large grey mansion that looms in the darkness like a deadly storm cloud. "We won't get caught," a young man with spiky black hair promises. "Don't worry buddy, we'll be alright. I'll take care of you," Zack says, looking at the younger man with spiky blonde hair beside him who he's half carrying. "Things are probably going to be a little tough for us, but we'll make it through." He continues half carrying Cloud down the pathway leading up to the gates of Shin-Ra Manor. They've just escaped from that horrific nightmare of a lab in the basement of that mansion a few hours ago, and they're now making a second attempt to leave Nibelheim. After making it to the gate, Zack opens the steel gate and walks through, letting it swing closed behind them. Afterwards, he continues walking. He looks over to see how Cloud is doing. Zack notices that his eyes are partially open and he's taking steps as Zack half carries him.

A few minutes later, they both make it to Nibelheim. However, more Shin-Ra troops come running into the village. Noticing the small number of troops approaching them, Zack gently sits Cloud down, propping him up against a nearby house. Zack can't help but feel worried about his friend when he notices Cloud trying to move his arms. The former infantryman lets out a small sigh when he's only able to slightly able to move his shoulders. Zack quickly gets between Cloud and the infantrymen as he unsheathes his Buster Sword and states, "This is gonna be rough." Zack hates having to kill what was once his men, unfortunately, he doesn't have much of a choice in the matter. The small band of troops stay close together as they aim their assualt rifles at their former commanding officer and pull the trigger. Zack rolls out of the way with incredible speed, runs behind them, and quickly cuts them down.

After easily dispatching them, with a look of relief tinged with sadness over killing those troops, he says with a saddened sigh, "Alright, we're getting out of here." He walks towards Cloud and kneels down, he notices that Cloud's eyes are starting to close. "Stay with me!" He orders in a loud voice as he gently shakes Cloud on the shoulder, Cloud reluctantly manages to force his eyes back open. Picking up his younger friend, he begins half-carrying him again.

* * *

After a couple of slow hours of walking, the two young men finally make it to the outside of Nibelheim by following a small dirt road. The night time silence seems to be infinite, other than the chirping of the crickets and the occasional moan from Cloud, who's starting to breathe heavy at this point. Exhausted from travel without any food or water, Cloud starts to fall to the ground, nearly taking Zack down with him. However, Zack manages to regain his balance and his grip on Cloud. "Whoa, easy kiddo. Listen, I know that you're tired, but we need to keep going, okay? Just for a few more minutes, alright?" Zack pants. He hopes that the blonde can stay awake for just a little longer.

While continuing on the dirt road, Zack sees Shin-Ra robots in the distance. "Damn it, there's no end to this," Zack says with an annoyed sigh. "We should get off of this path. What do you think, buddy?" Zack asks, looking over at his friend.

"Mmngh," Cloud groggily moans in response.

"Yeah, I think so too." Going off of the dirt road and into a small forest area, Zack looks over at his younger friend again. 'Man, I really hope that he gets better soon. I hate seeing him like this,' Zack worriedly thinks to himself. They soon come across an area that's surrounded by some large rocks and trees with a large clearing in the middle. "Alright, this looks like a good spot."

Zack gently sits Cloud down on the ground to where he's leaning up against one of the large rocks. While kneeling down in front of the blonde, Zack notices that his eyes are slightly open. So he assumes that he's awake. Zack says, "Wait here, I'm gonna go take a look around." Leaving his best friend hidden away, Zack decides to take out the Shin-Ra robots. On his way there, he comes across a sniper rifle lying on the ground. Zack's eyes slightly widen in surprise. He can't help but wonder how that weapon got there.  
'How convenient. I wasn't trained with guns, just swords. And my fists of course. I gave Cloud some fighting lessons a while back. Maybe I should've had him give me some shooting lessons in return,' he thinks to himself. "This isn't really SOLDIER style, but beggars can't be choosers. I just hope that I can get the hang of it." Grabbing the sniper rifle, he starts to take down the Shin-Ra robots. Only a couple of them managed to get away. "Shin-Ra technology rules, and with this new auto assist system, even an amateur like me can do pretty well." After taking out almost all of the numerous Shin-Ra robots, he comes across a sanded beach with a large dark navy blue ocean with large, mountain-like hills and a lighthouse behind him.

Zack looks out into the vast ocean and asks himself with a sigh, "Where do I go from here? Can't do much when I got Cloud to worry about." Looking up at the starry night sky for guidance, he asks, "Angeal, what should I do?" No answer, just silence...except for the approaching footsteps behind him. Recognizing those footsteps, with his back still turned, he calls out, "Hey Cissnei, been a while." A small smile finds its way on Zack's face because he can't help but feel a little surprised. He wasn't expecting to see her here. Although deep down, he knows why she's here.

"Zack, the fugitive sample, is it you?" she asks in a concerned tone.

"It would appear so," he answers.

Her mouth slightly drops open in sadness. She's always had a bit of a crush on Zack. Her heart begins to sink at the very thought of herself having to help hunt him down. "What did they do to you in that place?" she asks, her voice tinged with sadness and concern.

Zack looks down and answers, "Well, this and that." He really doesn't want to talk about the real life nightmare that him and his young friend had to endure. He turns around to face her. "So Cissnei, you're here to take us back, right?" he asks her as he narrows his eyebrows. Cissnei doesn't answer, she just sadly looks down at the ground. "Please, just walk away! I thought that we could outrun the army, but the Turks are a different story," Zack says, slightly begging out of desperation with those words.

"Zack, I'm sorry," she sadly apologizes in a regretful tone of voice as she continues standing about twenty feet away in front of him. Pulling out her large shuriken weapon, she shouts, "This is my job! If you want to escape, you'll have to..." Finding it almost unbearable to finish the rest of that sentence, she throws her weapon at Zack.

With lightning quick speed, Zack unsheathes his Buster Sword and deflects the on coming weapon away. Cissnei's shuriken lands about five feet away from her. She begins to steadily walk towards him. However, Zack keeps his sword pointed at her as he warns in a loud voice, "Step back! Next time, I'll really have to..." He decides not to finish the rest of his painful sentence. Knowing what he means, Cissnei sadly looks at him as she remains frozen in place. Pointing his sword at her in a way of telling her to not follow him before he races back to check on Cloud. He can't believe that Cissnei tried to attack him. They were good friends. Zack can't help but feel betrayed at Cissnei's actions and he also feels worried that she might give away their location.

After he races back to Cloud, Zack notices that he's sitting in the same place where he had left him. Looking down at the blonde, who has his eyes open and is staring down at the ground, Zack informs him, "The Turks are here too. It's too dangerous to move now. We'll rest here until morning, than we'll leave at dawn. Ehh," he swallows hard, doing his best not to sound worried, "we'll be alright." Zack smiles down at him. However, he soon hears those same familiar footsteps approaching them. He knows who it is, and because of their previous encounter, Zack is now on edge. He quickly turns around to see Cissnei standing in front of him. "Cissnei," he says as he draws his Buster Sword.

Cissnei soon notices Cloud. A look of concern and curiousity finds its way on her face. "Wait, he..he's the other sample they collected at Nibelheim."

Zack narrows his eyes at what she just said. Cloud is not a 'sample' and neither is him, they're human beings. He hates to hear that word because that's one of the things that Hojo called them. With his sword drawn and pointed at her, Zack runs in front of his friend, ready to protect him. The ex-SOLDIER furrows his eyebrows in frustration as he angrily yells, "Why did you come here? I told you to go away!"

Cissnei looks back up at Zack. "He doesn't look well, Zack. Is he alright?" she asks in a concerned tone.

"Mako addiction, severe case," Zack informs as he keeps holding his sword up to her. He can't help but feel a little frustrated as he thinks, 'Why is she acting like she's so concerned now? She attacked me just a few minutes ago. Why does she care now? She wasn't there living in fear...'

"The experiments, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

Cissnei reaches into her pocket and pulls out her cell phone.

"Hey!" Zack shouts, thinking that she's about to give away his and Cloud's location.

Cissnei quickly raises her hand up, motioning for him to keep quiet. "Tseng, I've lost the target."

After hearing her say that to Tseng, the leader of the Turks, Zack's frustrated look fades away as he slowly lowers his sword.

She hangs up and puts her phone back in her pocket. "So, that's how it is. So, get away safely," she kindly says. She turns around and starts to walk away.

"Cissnei, thank you," the former SOLDIER tells her in a grateful tone. He's glad that she's not going to turn them in to the authorities.

She soon turns back around and walks up to Zack. "Here's a present. If you think you can trust me, than use it," she tells him as she hands Zack a set of keys, which he assumes are keys to a motorcycle or a car. Zack gratefully smiles and watches her leave.

Zack feels very relieved that the young Turk actually helped them. After their previous encounter, he really wasn't expecting that. He puts the keys in his pocket and turns to look at Cloud. "Well, that was quite a reunion," Zack says as he sits down next to Cloud. "Man, I'm thirsty. How about you, buddy?" he asks as he looks over at his friend.

"Ngh, ugh," is Cloud's only answer as his head lolls to the side and comes to rest against Zack's shoulder.

Zack puts his arm around him and playfully ruffles Cloud's blonde spiky hair as he says, "Yeah, me too. Hey, I'm gonna go and get us some water, okay?" He lets out a soft grunt as he climbs to his feet. Noticing that he's leaving, Cloud begins to softly whimper. "Hey, it's alright kiddo. I'm just gonna get us some water. I'll be back soon. I promise," Zack reassures him as he leaves to get some water.

* * *

After walking for a few minutes, he comes across a small fast moving spring. "Hmm, let's see, I need something to put this in," he tells himself as he looks around to try and find something to put the water in. While wandering around, scanning the area for anything useful, he soon sees a large tree with large, green, oval shaped leaves. He then remembers some good survival tips that Angeal taught him a long time ago. "This might work. I could probably use this. I know what kind of tree this is. It's not poisonous or anything. Maybe I can fold it into a cup or bowl," he states as he grabs a leaf off of the tree and folds it into a pouch-like cup. He grabs a second one and does the same thing. He soon makes his way back to the spring and fills up both make-shift cups with water and goes back to where Cloud is.

After getting back to where his friend is waiting, he drinks his water. "Don't worry buddy, I've got you some too," he says. After sitting his cup and his sword down, he sits next to Cloud. "I got us some water. I already drank all of mine. Alright tough guy, I need you to open your mouth," Zack tells him in a kind voice as he gently holds Cloud's head up. When he sees Cloud slightly open his mouth, Zack smiles as he slowly pours the cool and refreshing liquid into Cloud's mouth. "There you go. That's a lot better now, huh?" he kindly tells him after Cloud drinks all of his water. "I'll try and get us some food tomorrow, okay?" Zack informs after he discards the make-shift cups.

"Mngh," Cloud incoherently moans.

"Don't worry, Cloud. I'll make sure that you eat too." Zack continues as he lets out a small chuckle, "You know that I'm not that greedy. I'll take care of you, okay? I promise."

While they continue leaning up against the large rocks, Zack asks Cloud, "So, do you think that we should look for that vehicle now or wait 'til morning?" Cloud's head begins to fall to the side which is followed by the rest of him. He lands on Zack's lap with his eyes closed and instantly falls asleep. Zack smiles down at him and gently pats him on the shoulder before he says, "Yeah, you're right. We should rest first. We should stick to the plan and find it when we leave at dawn." Zack's eyes starts to close and he can feel his head slowly leaning back on the boulder behind him. He can also feel his eyelids getting heavy. It doesn't take him long at all to fall asleep while leaning up against the rocks with his younger friend sleeping on his lap.

* * *

A few times during the night, Zack wakes up to make sure that they're still safe. He doesn't get into a deep sleep because he wants to make sure that they won't get captured while they are sleeping. He also takes the time to check on Cloud to make sure that he's doing okay. While looking down at his sleeping friend, there's a few times when he looks so lifeless that Zack reaches down and gently places his hand on Cloud's chest to feel for a heartbeat. Cloud must be in a deep sleep during this time because he doesn't even stir.

"Everything's going to be alright. You will get better, I know you will Cloud. Just hang in there, buddy," he softly says. Zack has heard rumors in the past that severe mako poisoning can be fatal. He's heard people say that three different things could happen to victims who get severe mako poisoning; they could make a full recovery, they could stay nearly unresponsive for the rest of their lives, or they could die. The former SOLDIER swallows hard when he remembers the last possible outcome. Zack hopes that Cloud will recover. He also hopes that his friend hasn't heard those rumors. He won't tell Cloud about those rumors though. Never. "It's always good to be hopeful, even in a bad situation like this," Zack quietly says to himself as he falls back asleep.

**Alright, Chapter 1. I hope that you guys like it. Once again, I would like to thank both chibipinkbunny and Blue Jae for their help. They both really helped me out a lot with this chapter. Thank you so much guys, I really appreciate it. Thank you both. I also thank the people who were kind enough to leave reviews as well, thank you. Oh, and the part when Zack uses those leaves, I wouldn't recommend doing stuff like that unless you knew for sure what kind of plant it was. There's a lot of plants that's edible, some can be used for medicine, and some is very poisonous and can kill you or make you very sick. I just thought that I'd warn you all about that. Anyways, I hope that you guys like this chapter. Please review to let me know what you all think. I appreciate reviews.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 or any of the FF7 characters. FF7 and the FF7 characters rightfully belongs to Square-Enix. No copyright infringement is intended at all.**

**Alright, Chapter 2. This chapter was also beta read by Blue Jae. I would really like to thank her for helping me out a lot on this, thank you so much Blue Jae. I really appreciate your help. Zack and Cloud continue on their journey to Midgar. Cloud has a nightmare about his and Zack's time in the lab. I've read about a deleted scene from the original FF7 game online about when Zack and Cloud was in the lab. So, I'm gonna put that scene in and add a few things to it. This chapter has some cussing in it too by the way, just to warn you all. The nightmare lab scene is at the very beginning of this chapter and it will be in italics, like _this. _This chapter also has the Zack/Aerith pairing. Anyways, please enjoy.**

**On the Run for Freedom**

**Chapter 2**

_"And what about you then?" The mad scientist asked as he looked down at the young semi-conscious blonde haired boy who's lying down on a metallic operating table, with thick, solid steel restraints around his wrists and ankles. Cloud managed to partially open his eyes, but only to be blinded by a bright white light. "Hmph...what beautiful mako eyes you have," the black haired scientist said as he examined Cloud's half opened, glowing blue eyes. "Can you speak?" He asked._

_"Hojo! Get away from him!" A young man with spiky black hair ordered through his mako energy filled incubator prison. The SOLDIER made a fist and glared at Hojo. As he furrowed his eyebrows, he couldn't help but feel angry and sickened at the situation._

_"Silence specimen one," Hojo ordered in an icy cold tone as he looked over at Zack._

_"Uh...a...ah," Cloud moaned as if he was trying to say something._

_Hojo quickly focused his attention back on Cloud and began to question him. "Can you hear someone calling you? Do you want to go somewhere?" He asked._

_"Leave him alone, you sick twisted son-of-a-bitch!" Zack yelled._

_Hojo glared back over at him as he replied, "I said silence! Unlike you, this boy killed my son, the great Sephiroth. Sephiroth is my greatest creation, and to have him killed off by someone like specimen two, is most intriguing."_

_"Your son?" Zack asked, furrowing his eyebrows. He looked down and whispered, "No wonder why he went insane."_

_"I want to go...home...mom...Tifa..." Cloud finally managed to answer weakly._

_Not liking the answer that was given, the corners of Hojo's lips formed into a heartless snare, he said, "Hm...this one's a failure as well."  
__  
It didn't take Hojo very long at all to realize that it bothered Zack a lot more when he's forced to watch them experiment on his friend more then experimented on himself. Hojo also realized that Cloud felt the same way, that it bothered Cloud a lot more when he was forced to watch them experiment on Zack. The deranged scientist found that out shortly after they both arrived at his lab._

_Hojo looked at Zack and gave him a cruel smile as he told his assistants, "Just dump him in the mountains or something."_

_After he saw the furious glare on Zack's face after he said that, Hojo knew that he struck a nerve. Zack began to pound his fists on the glass of the incubator. "Don't you touch him! If you do anything to hurt him, I'll kill you! All of you!" Zack furiously screamed, desperately attempting to keep them from killing his friend._

_Hojo walked towards Zack, and glared at him through the glass of the incubator. He coldly told him, "Silence specimen one, you know that I wouldn't destroy my own property. I'll find a use for you and that little friend of yours."_ _Looking back at his two assistants, the mad scientist ordered, "Put specimen two back in the incubator."_

_"Yes, professor," one of the assistants replied. One assistant began unfastening the steel restraints around Cloud's wrists, while the second assistant began to unfasten the restraints around his ankles._ _Once his ankles were free, Cloud looked down at the man that was bending over by the operating table next to one of his ankles. Bringing his leg up, he managed to kick the second assistant hard in the face. "Ahh, I think he broke my nose!" He cried out in pain while he clutched his now bleeding nose._

_"Silence you fool, I don't want him damaged! Now, do as I say and put him back in the pod!" Hojo ordered in an angry and frustrated tone of voice._

_Zack pressed his hands up against the glass, he couldn't help but feel proud at Cloud's act of resistance. "What a dumbass," he said with a smirk, referring to the guy who just got kicked in the face by Cloud's boot._

_Both assistants obeyed as they roughly grabbed Cloud and pulled him off of the operating table. Once he's off of the table they both began dragging him from under the arms. While they dragged him, Cloud couldn't help but notice a large blood stain on the front of his shirt of the infantryman uniform that he's wearing. He tightly closed his eyes and shuddered as he remembered the fight that he had with Sephiroth in the mako reactor when the madman impaled him in the chest, nearly killing him. After he remembered that, he couldn't help but feel betrayed. He's always looked up to Sephiroth ever since he heard about the former hero when he was a young kid. However, now he no longer felt that way towards him at all. Now he looked up to Zack more than anyone else. Then again, he's always looked up to Zack ever since he first met him. After they made it to the second incubator, they roughly put Cloud back inside of it and filled it back up with green mako energy._

* * *

"Guh, AHHHHH!" Cloud suddenly lets out a prolonged fearful scream of agony that pierces through the night time silence in response of the nightmare.

Zack's eyes quickly shoot open as he wakes up when he hears the young blonde screaming. He looks down to see Cloud laying on his side with his head resting on Zack's lap. The older man can feel the blonde tightly gripping his pants leg. It doesn't take him long at all to realize that the loud scream is coming from Cloud. While looking down at his friend, the former SOLDIER notices Cloud moving his legs, like he's desperately trying to run away from something.

Zack gently rolls his younger friend over on his back. "Shhh, Cloud, it's okay. You're just having a nightmare," Zack worriedly says as he begins patting Cloud on the side of the face, trying to get him to wake up.

The former SOLDIER's efforts seem useless as Cloud remains asleep and continues screaming, "Ngh, AHHHHH!"

Zack quickly looks around and scans the area, concerned that infantrymen might hear this loud commotion. The older man feels deeply worried and concerned about his friend because he doesn't know why Cloud's screaming all of a sudden. He seemed fine last night. 'Oh no, what do I do? If he keeps screaming like this, we'll get caught,' Zack thinks to himself.

Desperate to try and get his friend to stop screaming, Zack gently places his hand over Cloud's mouth, muffling his friend's scream. "It's alright, man. It's just us here. Come on, please wake up," Zack orders, begging his friend to wake up, his voice full of worry and desperation.

Surprisingly, a couple of seconds later, Cloud's eyes shoots open as he finally wakes up and stops screaming. The young blonde stares up at Zack through half-opened eyes with a dazed and confused look on his face.

Uncovering Cloud's mouth, he softly says with a concerned tone, "I'm sorry about that, but you were screaming pretty loud. What's wrong? Are you okay?" During this time, Zack holds his friend close to him in his arms. Cloud's body trembles as he looks up at Zack with eyes nearly consumed with fear from a past memory. "You want to talk about it?" Zack kindly asks.

Cloud slowly turns his head some and buries his face into Zack's chest and begins to softly whimper in response. "It's okay. You know that I'll always be here for you, buddy," Zack promises, trying to comfort his friend.

After calming his friend down a few moments later, Zack looks up at the sky and notices that it's dawn. After gently laying Cloud down, the former SOLDIER soon climbs to his feet and grabs his Buster Sword. He then sheathes his Buster Sword on his back as he says, "Well, thanks a lot for the wake up call, kiddo. We should get going." Zack grunts as he picks up Cloud and starts to half-carry him. "We need to look for that vehicle. Man, how cool would it be if it's a helicopter?" he says in an excited tone with a big smile at the last part.

"Mmngh," Cloud groans.

"Yeah well, I don't know where it's at either. We don't have a map or a compass or anything, so I guess that we'll have to use the sun to navigate. The sun rises in the east and it sets in the west, so this way is north. Yeah, we'll head north for now. Hopefully, that motorcycle or whatever it is, is in this direction," Zack tells him while looking up at the sky. Looking straight ahead, he says, "I wish that Cissnei would've told us where it's at. Oh well. We'll figure it out." They soon walk into a large forest. "We'll cut through here. Maybe this will be a short cut."

As they continue walking, Zack smiles as he asks, "Hey Cloud, you wanna hear about the time when I built my girlfriend a flower wagon?"

Cloud remains completely silent in response.

Zack smiles at the very thought of his cherished memories with his girlfriend as he starts to tell him the story. "I know that you'll like this story. It was just before we left for our last mission. She wanted me to build a flower wagon for her so that we can sell some flowers all through out Midgar." Zack smiles as he remembers the memory with the woman that he loves. "A little boy from the slums helped me gather the materials for it. After he helped me find the materials, he went ahead and ran home. After I built it for her, I went ahead and put some flowers in it. Then we went to the park and sold some flowers for a few minutes. We didn't sell very many though, and she said that she wanted a nicer wagon."  
Zack looks at his friend as he smiles and adds, "I know. She was being a little picky. I did build her two other wagons after that one though, and we used them to sell some flowers at the park too." Zack's voice becomes more tranquil as he smiles and says, "I'll never forget the way that she looked at me when I built her the second one that she liked so much." His voice seems distant when he adds, "She looked so happy. I've always loved her smile. I always felt like I was the luckiest man alive after we first met each other."

They stop walking as Zack takes a look around to scan the area for any enemies and the vehicle. When neither one is in sight, they continue walking. "Anyways, you know, when we get to Midgar, maybe I should ask her if she'll marry me. A long time ago when I was younger, I didn't think about getting married and starting a family of my own that much. But after I met her, I've been considering it. I really do love her." Zack looks at Cloud before asking him, "If me and Aerith get married, I would like for you to be my best man, Cloud. You wouldn't mind, would you?" Cloud manages a small weak smile in response. Knowing that it's Cloud's way of saying yes, Zack laughs and smiles back as he tells him, "Thanks, man. I know that I can always count on you, buddy."

* * *

After walking around for a few hours, not sure of exactly where they're going, Zack notices that the sun is shining off of something metallic in the distance. "What's that?" he asks while squinting his eyes to try and see it better. Due to it's features, he soon realizes that it's a motorcycle. "Hey, look Cloud! It's a motorcycle, hopefully it's the one that we're looking for," Zack says as he points to the motorcycle that's just outside of the forest. "Hold on, buddy. We're almost out of this forest."

While walking through the forest towards their destination, three Shin-Ra infantrymen run out from behind the trees and ambush them a few feet ahead. "Over here!" The one in front yells while the three of them aim their assault rifles at Zack and Cloud.

"Sorry. Time for another break, Cloud." He sighs as he gently sits Cloud down next to a tree. Taking a couple of steps towards them, while drawing out his Buster Sword, he says in an annoyed tone, "As you can see, my friend is sick. Let's get this over with." The troops begin shooting at the former SOLDIER. Zack quickly dodges the bullets by rolling out of the way. While the troops begin reloading their guns, Zack equips a Hell Firaga materia and shoots it at them, easily dispatching them.  
After making sure that there's no more troops, he asks with sigh, "Why can't they just leave us alone?" He walks over and gently grabs Cloud. After positioning his friend to where he can half-carry him again, they continue on their way.  
"I mean seriously, all I want is for them to leave us alone so that we can both get to Midgar. Then I can see my girlfriend again. Is that too much to ask?"  
Zack looks over and smiles at the blonde. "I mean, it's not like I'm asking them to give us a billion gil or anything."

* * *

A few moments later, they finally make it to the motorcycle. "Alright, buddy. We're finally here. Hopefully, this is the right one. I guess that the keys will let us know, huh?" Zack asks while smiling. "Alright. In you go," he says with a grunt as he kneels down and uses one arm to pick up Cloud's legs and gently sits him down in the sidecar of the motorcycle. While Zack walks around to the other side and sits down on the seat, he notices that there's a couple of sleeping bags and a supply bag tied down to the back of the motorcycle.

"Alright, keep your fingers crossed," he says as he reaches into his pants pocket, pulls out the keys, and puts them in the ignition. The motorcycle immediately starts right up. Zack slightly laughs as he says, "Well, what do ya know? It's the right one." Looking over at Cloud, who's sitting down next to him in the attached side car, Zack asks, "Comfy?" Cloud answers him with a yawn. Zack laughs as he reaches over and playfully ruffles his friend's hair. "I'll take that as a yeah. You can go back to sleep now if you want to." Cloud falls asleep as Zack starts to drive around in their new ride.

* * *

After driving around until the sun began to set, they come across an area with a few trees, a small stream, and a cave. Since it's starting to get late, Zack decides to stop and camp here for the rest of the evening.

"I think that we put in enough distance for the day. We should be safe here, for a little while at least," he says as he gets off of the motorcycle. Before he gets Cloud, he decides to check the cave to make sure that it's safe. Before he goes inside, he looks at his sleeping friend and orders, "Wait here. I'll be right back."  
He steps inside of the cave and although it's dark, he's still able to see his way around pretty easily. It's a small cave with a couple of turns around some corners before leading into a room. It only takes about two or three minutes to fully explore the grotto. There's no apparent danger here, and with that, he starts a quick campfire in the middle of the room inside of the cave.  
He goes back to retrieve his friend. "Alright Cloud, it's safe. We'll go ahead and rest here for the night," Zack says as he walks over to Cloud, who's still asleep. Zack gently scoops him up and begins to carry him into the cave.  
"After we get situated here, I'm gonna get us something to eat." While looking down at his sleeping friend, Zack smiles as he softly says, "You know, I really can't wait until you get better because then you can carry me around like this," he jokes as he playfully laughs. "I'm just kidding, buddy."

Once they're inside the grotto, Zack gently sits Cloud down to where he's propped up against the stone wall of the cave. Taking care to try and be careful to not wake him up.  
Kneeling down next to Cloud, Zack whispers, "Wait right here. I'm gonna go and get some supplies from the motorcycle, okay?"

Zack makes his way outside and grabs the supply bag and a couple of sleeping bags from the motorcycle. After getting the supplies, he makes sure that he conceals it by placing large leafy tree branches over it. He walks back inside the cave, unsheathes his Buster Sword, and leans it up against the cave wall. He sits down next to his friend, who seems to be awake since his eyes are open now. While Cloud gazes down at the cave's stone floor, Zack pats Cloud on the shoulder as he says, "Hey, welcome back, buddy. Alright, man. Let's see what we got here." Zack starts to rummage through the bag of supplies. He begins to name off the items as he pulls them out from the bag, "We got a first aid kit. For food, we've got some water, soup, jerky, apple sauce, pudding, peanut butter, crackers, oatmeal, and baby food." Zack can't help but chuckle at the last item. "Good thing that we stopped off at that market a couple hours ago for this food. So, what do you want to eat?" He asks, looking over at the blonde, who remains silent. After a few silent seconds, Zack suggests, "How about some baby food, and if you're still hungry after that, you can have some chocolate pudding. Does that sound good?" He smiles.

"Ngh," Cloud moans.

Zack smiles as he replies, "Alright, baby food and chocolate pudding it is."

When it comes to feeding Cloud, it can be a little tricky because with him being semi-comatose, he's unable to chew. Zack has to make sure that when he feeds him, it has to be something that doesn't require much chewing, just swallowing.

After opening a small can of baby food, Zack grabs a plastic spoon from the bag. "Okay, open wide," he orders with a kind smile while holding the spoon up to Cloud's closed lips. He was hoping that Cloud would open his mouth and take the food. However, his younger best friend keeps his lips closed and stares off into space with distant and unblinking eyes. He can't help but feel a little surprised because he thought that feeding him would have been easier. "Come on, Cloud. You've gotta eat. I know that you're hungry. I can hear your stomach growling," Zack says, trying to get his friend to open his mouth.  
After a couple of minutes of holding the spoon up to his lips, Cloud finally seems to snap out of it and opens his mouth and takes the baby food. Zack happily smiles as he continues feeding him. After feeding him three more cans of baby food, Zack decides to give him some chocolate pudding.

"Mmm," Cloud responds as Zack gives him the first small spoonful of chocolate pudding.

Zack laughs as he tells him, "I knew that you'd like this stuff."

Something about the chocolate pudding reminds Zack of a past memory. While feeding the blonde, Zack asks, "Hey Cloud, remember on your sixteenth birthday when I had my girlfriend bake that little chocolate cake for you?"

Cloud remains silent as he continues eating.

"We both sat in the cafeteria at headquarters and we ate that whole cake by ourselves." Zack slightly laughs as he remembers the memory. The cake wasn't very big. It looked like it was only about five inches in length and a couple of inches in height. "We didn't even realize that we ate it all until it was already gone. Man, me and you both did a lot of squats in the training room that day to burn off all of those calories." Zack laughs again.

Cloud manages to faintly smile as he hears Zack's voice, trying his best to focus on Zack's words to comprehend what he's saying.

"Oh, and before we ate that cake, some infantrymen were giving you a hard time. So, I told them that you were my cousin, and they actually believed me. They never bothered you again after that," Zack recalls as he continues laughing while feeding Cloud. "You know, if those guys are still around, I wonder if they still think that we're cousins. I never did tell them that we're not related," Zack says with another chuckle.

A few minutes later, Cloud stops allowing Zack to feed him by keeping his lips closed. "You're done? You didn't really eat that much," Zack informs after looking into the plastic container of what's left of the pudding.  
"There's just one more bite left. Do you think that you can finish it?" He asks as he starts to hold the last small spoonful of chocolate pudding up to Cloud's lips. Cloud reluctantly opens his mouth and takes the pudding. Zack smiles as he says, "There you go. I know that baby food and chocolate pudding isn't a very good combination, but it's better than nothing."

Now that his friend is fed, Zack starts to eat some jerky and peanut butter crackers. After he gets done eating, he puts the supplies back in the bag.  
"Alright buddy, we've had enough adventure for one day. It's time to crash," Zack says as he starts to take off his and Cloud's gloves, boots, and shoulder guards. He gets the sleeping bags rolled out across the cave floor. Putting Cloud in one of the sleeping bags, he smiles as he tells him, "Night."  
After that, he lays down in the second sleeping bag and curls up next to his friend. Not long after he lays down, Zack notices that Cloud's body is weakly trembling. Zack doesn't know if he is cold or scared. The ex-SOLDIER gently wraps an arm around his younger friend, offering Cloud both warmth and protection from the world that seems to be trying to make them feel discarded.

Cloud manages a weak and groggy mumble in response when Zack pulls him closer, "Ngh, ungh."

Zack gives his friend a smile full of kindness. He has no idea what Cloud is trying to say because he's still learning his friend's new language. The older man is confident that he'll learn Cloud's new language soon because he's a fast learner. 'Maybe he said, 'thank you',' he thinks to himself. The ex-SOLDIER remains smiling as he tells him, "You're welcome." Zack smiles even more when he notices that Cloud isn't trembling anymore. They both soon fall asleep afterwards.

**Alright, Chapter 2 is now finished. I would once again like to thank Blue Jae, who was very kind enough to beta read this. Thank you Blue Jae. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please review/comment to tell me what you all think, I always appreciate reviews/comments. Anyways, thank you all for taking the time to read and review/comment.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 or any of the FF7 characters. FF7 and the FF7 characters rightfully belongs to Square-Enix.**

**Alright, Chapter 3. The two young heroes continue on their long journey to Midgar. Cloud gets hit once or twice in this chapter by an infantryman, but don't worry, he doesn't get hurt too bad and Zack gives the infantryman a taste of his own medicine. Just thought I'd warn you all. There's some cussing in this chapter too. No slash, except for Zack/Aerith and Cloud/Tifa. Blue Jae was also kind enough to beta read this chapter. Thank you Blue Jae, I always appreciate your help. Oh, I'm also not done editing this chapter yet. I'm just kinda editing it here and there some and reposting it. I'm still working on the editing in this story, so please bear with me. Please feel free to review/comment too. Anyways, please enjoy.**

**On the Run for Freedom**

**Chapter 3**

In the middle of the night, Zack suddenly wakes up to a noise coming from outside of the cave. The noise itself, wasn't very loud, but with Zack's enhanced hearing, it was loud enough. Looking over at his friend, who's still sound asleep, he whispers, "Wait here Cloud, I'll be back soon." He stealthfully tiptoes over to the exit of the cave and peaks outside. It's still pitchblack outside.

"Over here, move out!" orders a loud ominous voice.

'Oh, crap. Don't tell me that they...' Zack's thoughts gets interrupted.

"Check over there!" the voice orders.

'Found us,' Zack finishes his thoughts with an annoyed sigh.

He silently turns around and goes back where his friend is and puts on his boots, gloves, and shoulder guards. He then jogs over to the cave wall and grabs his Buster Sword. After he sheathes his sword, he goes back to the cave entrance and peaks back outside. However, once he peaks outside, he realizes that the group of Shin-Ra infantrymen are running towards the cave with their assault rifles drawn.

"Damn it," he curses as he quickly climbs to his feet, unsheathes his Buster Sword, and runs outside to fight off their pursuers.

While Zack is distracted by fighting the large group of scattered troops, an infantryman sneaks inside of the cave and discovers the second so-called fugitive. The infantryman quickly unzips the sleeping bag, grabs Cloud by the ankles and begins to try and drag him outside. Cloud instantly wakes up to see a man in a familiar blue uniform standing over him. He quickly realizes that it's not Zack. Cloud moves his eyes, frantically looking for Zack. When he doesn't see him, a wave of terror courses through his body because he knows that the Shin-Ra infantrymen are always bad news. He knows that the infantrymen are out to either capture him and Zack or kill them.  
With his arms trailing on either side of his head, Cloud manages to weakly grab the side of the cave wall just a few feet from the cave entrance which prevents him from being dragged any further.

"Damn brat," the infantryman angrily growls. Cloud lets out a soft grunt of pain when the man roughly throws his ankles to the stone ground.

After hearing numerous screams from his comrades outside, the man starts to panic because he knows that the other fugitive is killing his fellow troops. He quickly walks over and tries to pry the blonde's hand from the wall. He easily succeeds, however, just as he starts to drag him again, Cloud manages to grab the cave wall once again. This time, with both hands on each side.

"You son-of-a-...!" the man growls as he walks over and roughly places his boot on Cloud's chest, pinning him to the hard cave floor. Cloud struggles to breathe as the man applies more pressure, it feels like the air is getting forced out of his lungs. While watching the blonde fighting for air, the trooper suddenly feels empowered. He's enjoying the power that he has over this young man so much that he's forgotten about his comrades outside. The infantryman's lips form a heartless snarl as he begins to cruelly laugh. While laughing, he unfastens his nightstick from the side of his pants, raises it up in the air, and slams it down hard on the blonde's abdomen.

"Gah, ungh!" Cloud grunts in pain from the blow.

During this time, the infantryman doesn't notice a tall dark figure quickly run up to him from behind. The man laughs as he raises his nightstick up over his head, preparing to hit Cloud with it again. The dark figure strongly grabs the infantryman by his raised forearm. The infantryman's eyes instantly widen in sheer terror as he turns his head to see two glowing blue eyes burning into his. While the man tries to free his arm from the strong grip, his forearm gets severed, hanging on by a small amount of bloody flesh. The infantryman clutches his nearly ripped off limb, falls to his knees, and screams in agony.

"Please, don't kill me!" the man begs.

However, Zack is so furious at the man for hurting his helpless best friend that he ignores his plea. The former SOLDIER 1st Class quickly grabs the man's head and rams it into the side of the cave with so much force that the man's helmet splits in half and crushes his skull, killing him instantly with ease.

"Who's laughing now? You jerk," Zack says with dark sarcasm.

The infantryman's lifeless corpse slowly begins to dissipate into small specks of green spirit energy as he begins to join the Lifestream.

Zack didn't mean to sever the infantryman's arm like that. All he did was grab his arm so that he would stop hitting his friend and the man kept trying to pull away.

'I did what I had to do,' he assures himself.

With the threat gone, Zack turns his attention to his friend, who's still laying on his back on the cave floor. "I'm so sorry, Cloud. I should've gotten here sooner. Are you alright?" Zack asks him in a sympathetic and concerned tone. Cloud looks up at him with a look of relief. "Come on, man. Let's get you fixed up," Zack tells him as he kneels down and wraps Cloud's right arm around his shoulders and gently scoops him up. Cloud softly moans in pain and weakly clutches Zack's shoulder as he gently picks him up. "Sorry about that, buddy," he apologizes as he continues carrying his younger friend back to his sleeping bag. To help break the tension in the air, Zack decides to crack a small joke as he says, "Man, Cloud. Now, what did I tell you about going places with strangers, huh?" He manages to force a slight smile.

When they get back to the campsite in the cave, Zack gently lays Cloud down on his sleeping bag. "Alright, kiddo. Let me take a look." He pulls the blonde's shirt up past his chest to examine the damage. Zack instantly notices a bright red shoe imprint on Cloud's chest. "Hmm, your chest is red but I don't see any bruising there though." After that, Zack soon sees a large bruise on Cloud's stomach just below his ribs from where he was hit with the infantryman's wooden nightstick. "Well thankfully, he didn't hit you in the ribs at least. So, we don't need to worry about you having any broken ribs. You do have a bruise on your stomach, but it's nothing serious. With how much mako that you have in your system, this probably won't take very long to heal." Zack gently places his hand next to the large bruise on his friend's stomach to try and get a closer look. Cloud let's out a small groan of pain and Zack quickly removes his hand. "I'm sorry, man. I didn't realize that it hurt that much," he says as he pulls Cloud's shirt back down. Zack coughs some to clear his throat before he asks, "I'm gonna drink some water. Do you want some?"

Cloud remains silent in response. However, just as he reaches for the nearby water bottle, he hears a sudden gasp from the young blonde. Looking down at his friend, he sees that his eyes are starting to roll to the back of his head. "Hey Cloud, what's wrong?" Zack worriedly asks. "Hey, come on. Stay with me," Zack orders in a worried tone as he starts to pat his friend on both sides of his face.

Cloud looks up at Zack, but only to reveal that his eyes are now completely glazed over with a weird blue-green mako tint. The younger man can still see, but everything is green and blurry. Cloud's breathing becomes shallow as he begins to whimper and slightly clutches the sleeping bag that's laying underneath him. Zack notices him holding onto the sleeping bag and, in an attempt to try and comfort his younger friend, he gently grabs and holds the blonde's hand. "It's okay. You're going to be alright, I promise," Zack says, his voice brimming with kindness as he gently squeezes Cloud's hand. Cloud manages to weakly squeeze back in return as his body begins to tremble because he can't help but feel scared. Once he notices that his younger best friend is trembling, Zack gently strokes his hair some as he says, "You're okay." Cloud just gazes up at Zack with a look of fear in his eyes as his body continues to weakly tremble. "Hey, come here, buddy." Zack gently grabs him and takes great care to not irritate his injuries as he pulls him close for a hug.

A soft pained moan leaves the blonde before he rests the side of his face on his best friend's chest. He slightly clenches his teeth some because his stomach and his chest hurts. He manages to grab onto Zack's shirt before he incoherently mumbles, "Ungh, mmngh."

Zack gently holds onto him a little tighter as he tells him, "Everything's gonna be alright." He looks down at him before he adds, "Those guys are gone. We're safe now, okay Cloud?" Soft whimpers escape from Cloud's lips which causes for his older best friend to tell him in a soft tone, "Cloud, it's okay. Just calm down a bit and take a deep breath, okay?"

The former infantryman does as he's told while he continues to desperately cling to his best friend for comfort. He wants to make sure that Zack won't disappear again because he knows that whenever his older best friend is around, he's safe. After several minutes, Cloud slightly buries the side of his face into Zack's chest when the pain in his chest and stomach begins to slowly fade away. He continues clinging to Zack and after what feels like about half an hour, the pain goes away entirely just like Zack said. The ex-infantryman yawns as he closes his eyes and relaxes because he doesn't feel scared or in pain anymore, just tired.

"You alright now?" Zack asks as he continues hugging his younger best friend. When Cloud remains silent in response, Zack gently lays him back down. As he looks down at him, he discovers that he has already fallen fast asleep.

After witnessing what happened with Cloud's eyes earlier, Zack can't help but feel deeply concerned about his friend. He's heard someone say a long time ago that mako poisoning can be treated, but not in the severe cases. Other than to continue to protect and take care of him, Zack doesn't know what to do. He's never been in a situation when he had to help someone in this kind of condition before.  
Tears start to well up in Zack's eyes as he begins to think that his best friend may be dying and there's nothing that he can do about it. He's been doing his best to not look and act worried. To stay strong. Especially around Cloud, because he doesn't want him to feel afraid and hopeless. Zack tries to hold back his tears, but they soon escape from his eyes and run down his cheeks. He quickly places his hands over his eyes as he silently begins to weep.

* * *

The next morning, after waking Cloud up, Zack decides to check on him. "Hey, kid. How are you feeling? You doing okay?" Zack asks in a kind voice as he removes his glove and gently places his hand on his friend's forehead and cheeks to make sure that he doesn't have a fever. Putting his glove back on, he takes a look at the blonde's eyes to see if they're still glazed over.

The good news is that he doesn't have a fever, but the bad news is that his eyes are still glazed over. The older man was really hoping that his eyes would be back the way they were before. Zack suddenly remembers Cloud's injuries from last night. "Oh, I need to check and see if your injuries are healed up yet," he tells him as he pulls up Cloud's shirt. To Zack's surprise, the large bruise on his stomach and the red place on his chest are now completely gone. Zack smiles as he pulls his shirt back down. "Well, I was right. Your injuries are all healed up now." Zack gently pats Cloud on the shoulder.

"We should probably get going," Zack says as he starts to put Cloud's boots, gloves, and shoulder guards on him. "There you go, buddy. You're all geared up and ready to go now. You know, this SOLDIER 1st Class uniform really does look pretty good on you." Zack lets out a chuckle as he says, "Maybe that's why the military isn't very happy with us, because I um, well, I did kind of steal that outfit for you." He smiles at Cloud before telling him, "We'll just call it permanently borrowing."

Zack starts to pack up their supplies and puts it in the motorcycle. He goes back to get his friend. "Alright buddy, it's time for us to go." Zack lifts Cloud up and sits him down in the sidecar of the motorcycle. The former SOLDIER sits down on the driver's seat and drives away.

* * *

After driving around almost the whole day, stopping only to drink some water, and of course the occasional bathroom break, they finally make it to a town. It's starting to get late and the sun is almost set. While driving on a small road in the town, Zack soon sees an old and run-down motel.

"Maybe we can rest here for tonight," Zack says as he parks in front of the motel.

Now that they're parked, he takes the time to look around their surroundings. While looking around, he notices that there's numerous gang members behind them about one-hundred yards away. "This might be a bad end of town," Zack quietly tells himself under his breath. There's been plenty of times in the past when Zack had to deal with gang members. He has come across peaceful gangs before, but most of them were violent. He shuts off the motorcycle and puts the keys in his pocket as he climbs off of the seat. Zack decides to try and get a room, however, with the intimidating surroundings, he doesn't feel very comfortable at all leaving his catatonic friend in the sidecar, so he decides to take Cloud with him to get a room. He gently grabs his friend up and out of the sidecar. Cloud groggily moans as Zack half-carries him up to the reception desk window.

"Shh, it's alright. You're safe with me, okay?"

They soon make it up to the reception window with a young woman sitting behind it. "Good evening, ma'am. We'd like a room, please," Zack informs as the woman gives the two young men a strange look.

She glances over at Cloud as she curiously asks, "What's wrong with him?"

Of course Zack doesn't really trust this woman, so he quickly comes up with a lie. "Uh, he's fine," he replies, trying to sound convincing.

"Fine? Doesn't look like he's fine," she tells him as she gives Zack a suspicious look.

"Uh, yeah. He's had a bit too much to drink, that's all. Right, buddy?" Zack can feel the blonde's body slightly tense up after that statement, which is a way of using body language to show Zack that his friend doesn't like what he said. Zack looks over at Cloud.

"Ungh," he groggilly grunts in response. Luckilly, he's looking down the whole time so that the woman can't see his eyes.

After hearing loud shouts and noises, Zack suddenly looks behind them towards the gang, feeling a little uncomfortable. Of course, Zack can handle them if they start any trouble, but he wants to try and keep a low profile.

"Don't worry about them," he hears someone say as he turns around to face the woman as she adds, "They're called the Bahamut Dragons. They won't bother you or your vehicle unless you bother them first."

Zack looks up at her and smiles as he calmly responds, "Oh, right. That's good to know. Thanks."

The young woman smiles back at him. "We only have three rooms left. One room has two beds and the other two has one bed. Which one do you want, sir?"

Zack gives her a strange look as he quickly blurts out, "We'll take the one with two beds."

After handing the woman the money, she tells him, "Alright, you two are in room twenty-seven which is past a couple of rooms to your right. Here's the key, sir." She hands him the room key.

"Thanks, ma'am." After taking the key, he goes over to the motorcycle and grabs the bag of supplies before heading off to the room.

While on their way up to their assigned room, Zack notices that his friend looks a little pale and he's still tensed up. "You okay? You're not mad that I told her you were drunk are you? I'm sorry, okay? I had to think of something and I couldn't think of anything else to tell her. I know that you're not really drunk or anything, alright?" Cloud remains silent as they continue walking. Of course, Cloud isn't mad at Zack. He just wishes that he would've thought of something else to tell the woman who works there.  
They soon make it to their motel room. Zack quickly closes the door and locks it behind them after they get inside. As he looks around in the inside, he can't help but notice that it's very dirty and unkept. The only somewhat clean objects in the room are the beds and a nearby table. The floor is so dirty that you leave footprints with almost every step. "Man, would it kill them to clean this place up once in a while?" Zack asks as he reaches down and scratches his leg.

Just as they take a couple of steps, Cloud leans forward some and vomits on the floor. Making a puddle of glowing green liquid on the dirt covered floor, which Zack assumes is mako energy. "You alright?" Zack asks in a tender voice as he gently pats the blonde on the back. "Yeah, I agree. I don't like this room either, but it's the only motel in town. The only one that I saw anyways."

Zack tosses the bag on the nearest bed and lays his friend down on the next bed. He positions him to where he's laying on his side in case he gets sick again. Zack walks over to the table and lays his Buster Sword down across it. He also removes his gloves and places them on the table next to his sword. After hearing his stomach growl, Zack remembers something. "Man, we haven't ate yet today. I'll get us something to eat, okay?" He grabs the bag and sits down on the edge of the bed next to his friend. While rummaging through their supplies, Zack looks over at Cloud and says, "You know, that lady at the desk was pretty hot. Don't you think?"

The older man can't help but laugh when he imagines Cloud rolling his eyes at his words. "Oh, come on, man. Don't give me that." Zack playfully smiles at his friend before saying, "I know that you agree with me. You always do when it comes to hot girls." Zack looks over at Cloud after he pulls out a metal can from the bag. "Do you think that you'll be able to keep some chicken broth down?" He asks as he gently places his hand on Cloud's forehead to check to see if he has a fever. "You don't have a fever and you don't look pale anymore. You actually look a little better than what you did earlier."

He pulls out a toothbrush and some toothpaste from the bag and says, "I'll brush your teeth first before you eat. That way, you'll have that gross vomit taste out of your mouth." The former SOLDIER sits the toothbrush and toothpaste down next to him. "Alright, kid. I need you to sit up," Zack says with a grunt as he grabs Cloud from under the arms and sits him up against the headboard of the bed.

Brushing the blonde's teeth was quite a challenge. It was hard to get him to spit and he kept biting down on the toothbrush. "There you go. We all know how important dental hygiene is," Zack says to him in a silly sounding voice which earns him a smile from his younger friend.

"Alright, Cloud. I'm gonna warm you up some of that chicken broth, okay?" Grabbing the can of chicken broth, Zack marches over to a microwave that's sitting on a nearby table next to the wall. Opening the microwave in an attempt to warm up the food for Cloud, Zack looks inside to see that inside of the microwave is really dirty with old dried up food caked to the sides. Zack makes a disgusted face as he says, "Eww." Quickly closing the microwave, Zack turns to his friend and says, "Hey, buddy? You don't mind eating this cold do you?"

Cloud moans as Zack walks up to the bed where he is and sits on the edge of the bed. He opens up the can of soup and begins to feed his younger friend.

"Ungh," the blonde groans as he reluctantly swallows the first spoonful of cold chicken broth.

"Yeah, I know that it tastes a lot better warmed up, but there's no way in hell that I'm gonna use that microwave." Zack lets out a small chuckle as he says, "Trust me, man. I'm doing you a very good favor by not using that thing."  
After Cloud eats about half of the soup, he gets full and refuses to eat the rest of it. "Alright, since you're obviously full, I'll finish it. I really don't like eating after people, but I can't let this go to waste though." The older man grabs a second spoon from the bag and takes a bite of the cold chicken broth. "Oh, man. I see now why you weren't real big on this stuff when it's cold. It's so much better warmed up," Zack says as he quickly scarfs the soup down. After he manages to eat the soup, Zack smiles as he reassures his friend, "I promise that I'll make it up to you tomorrow morning, okay? Because for breakfast, I'll give you some of that applesauce that ya love so much, alright?" Cloud lets out a weak grunt when Zack positions him to where he's laying down on the bed so that he'll be more comfortable.

He puts their supplies back in the bag before he gets up and places it on the table. He knows that he can really use a nice hot shower. He walks into the bathroom to see if the shower has a shower head. It does; a leaking one that's slightly hanging off of the wall anyways. He steps out of the bathroom before he informs his friend, "Hey, I'm gonna take a quick shower." He walks back into the bathroom and takes a fast shower. After his shower, just before he starts to get dressed, he looks at his clothes and notices just how dirty they are. "Hmm, maybe I should do some laundry."

Zack quickly puts on his black boxers. Not wanting to walk around on the filthy floor barefoot, he decides to put his boots back on as well. He walks back into the bedroom towards Cloud, wearing nothing but his boxers and boots, he tells the blonde, "Cloud, after your bath I'm gonna go ahead and wash our shirts and pants, okay?"

Zack smiles down at his friend once he realizes that he's fast asleep. Zack gently places his hand on Cloud's shoulder and begins to lightly shake him to try and wake him up. "Hey, Cloud," he says in a soft voice. Other than a slight frown, Cloud doesn't respond. The former SOLDIER immediately stops trying to wake him up after he realizes that it'll probably be best for him to stay asleep during this. He really doesn't want to do this, but unfortunately, the young blonde can't give himself a bath in his condition. So Zack knows that if he doesn't do this then Cloud will never get a bath.

The ex-SOLDIER makes his way at the end of the bed and quickly yet gently removes his friend's boots and socks, taking great care to not wake him up. After removing Cloud's boots and socks, Zack looks back up at his friend. He feels relieved to see that he's still sleeping. He quietly walks towards the side of the bed to finish undressing his friend with high hopes of not waking him up. The ex-SOLDIER quietly takes a deep breath when he begins to carefully remove the former infantryman's suspenders and his shirt. To Zack's surprise, Cloud's eyes slightly open when he removes his shirt. Cloud gazes up at his friend through blurry and glazed over eyes as Zack sits down on the edge of the bed beside him.

Zack smiles down at him as he says, "Hey Cloud, I'm just gonna wash our clothes, okay?" That much is true, he really does have to wash their clothes. He decides not to tell his friend about having to give him a bath because he knows that Cloud probably won't be very happy at all about it. Zack really isn't looking forward to it either to be honest. The former SOLDIER gently places the back of his hand on the side of Cloud's face after he notices his dazed facial expression. "You okay?" he asks in a tender voice. Cloud looks up at him with eyes that are barely open in response. Judging from how tired and dazed he looks, Zack isn't so sure if he's even aware of his surroundings or what's going on around him.  
Zack knows that he has to finish undressing his friend, but he really doesn't want for him to be awake during this and his bath. He wants for Cloud to be asleep so that he won't know what's going on because he knows how shy Cloud is and that it'll be really embarrassing for him. To Zack's relief, Cloud really can't keep his eyes open anymore. He continues gazing up at his friend as his eyes slowly close in slumber. Zack hangs his head low as he lets out a deep sigh of relief. After about a minute or two of waiting to make sure that Cloud's asleep, Zack can't help but shudder a few times as he begins to carefully unfasten and remove Cloud's pants.

* * *

After he gives his friend a bath, Zack quickly wraps a towel around his waist when he's done drying him off. He softly grunts when he gently scoops up the former infantryman in his arms before he emerges from the bathroom. The ex-SOLDIER feels surprised yet very grateful that his friend didn't wake up at all during his bath. He finds himself looking down at his friend when he hears a soft whine while he marches towards one of the beds. "Shhh," is Zack's simple reply once he sees Cloud's tranquil facial expression change into a fearful look. He gently lays him down on the bed and quickly puts his boxers back on him after he removes the towel. He has a feeling that his friend might wake up soon.

While pulling the blankets back, Zack gently squeezes the blonde's shoulder when he hears another soft whine from him. "Shhh, it's alright," he tells him in a soothing voice before he gently scoops him up and lays him back down so that he's laying down properly on the bed. He gently pats him on the shoulder when he sees a horrified and pained expression appear on his friend's face.

* * *

_"Tell me if this hurts, specimen two," Hojo ordered in a cruel tone after he unbuttoned Cloud's shirt before he pressed a surgical knife against Cloud's chest until a small stream of blood began to run down his chest._

_He cried out in agony and weakly struggled against the steel restraints that held him down on the operating table as the knife began to slowly cut into him. "S-stop, please," he begged in a weak and pained tone._

_The mad scientist gave him an icy cold glare and said, "That tells me nothing, specimen two."_

_"My..my name...is..."_

_The blonde's statement quickly got cut off when Hojo sat the knife down and grabbed a handful of his spiky blonde hair and yanked his head back some. "What did you say?!"_

_When Cloud didn't answer right away, Hojo yanked his head back more until he said in a shaky voice, "N-nothing."_

_The mad scientist released him. "That's what I thought you said." He grabbed Cloud by the chin and added, "You and specimen one need to realize that I own you now. Both of you are to do as I say and you will live and die when I say."_

_Cloud's body began to tremble as his eyes widened in sheer terror when he saw Hojo hold up a syringe that was filled with a glowing green liquid. "I'm going to increase your dosage again." His voice seemed to trail off as he looked over to an incubator with Zack unconsciously floating in it as he said, "It's a shame that your friend isn't awake so that I can make you scream and cry for him again."_

_A pained cry escaped from Cloud's quivering lips when he suddenly felt the needle being roughly jabbed into his upper left arm, which caused for him to tense up before his body went limp. After a few seconds, his arms and legs felt numb as the burning sensation traveled throughout his entire body until he could no longer move. He found himself staring off into space as a strange tingling feeling came over him and everything began to sound and feel far away._

_Since Cloud no longer seemed responsive at all anymore, Hojo's assistant asked, "Professor? Is he supposed to have that reaction?"_

_Hojo leaned over Cloud and briefly studied him before he replied, "Hmm, the subject appears to be unresponsive to stimuli." A frustrated glare appeared on his face before he continued, "He's a failure. His recovery is highly unlikely." He looked at his assistant and ordered, "Write that down in the report." He coldly glared back down at Cloud. "Put the failed experiment back in the incubator. I'm going to Midgar so you will be in charge of these two failures until I return."_

_"Yes, professor," the assistant answered before Hojo left the room to leave for the city. The assistant grabbed a piece of gauze and wiped the blood on Cloud's chest off before he began buttoning up his infantryman uniform. Since he knew that he'll be here to look out for them by himself, while he buttoned up Cloud's shirt, he threatened in a harsh tone, "You two test subjects better not give me any trouble. If you do, I'll make both of you be sorry." When he's finished buttoning up the blonde's shirt, he placed his hands on the table around Cloud's head. Since Cloud was still staring off into space with a blank expression, the assistant glared down at him and growled, "What are you looking at?"_

_Cloud continued staring up at him with unblinking eyes as he softly moaned in response, "Ungh."_

_The older man rolled his eyes and sighed in annoyance before he pushed a button on the control panel to unfasten the restraints. "I suppose I'll do us all a favor and put you back in your pod."_

_Cloud's body suddenly tensed up before going limp again when he felt the man grab him from under the arms and pull him off of the operating table. He whimpered and groaned as he felt his legs and feet drag across the stone floor while the assistant dragged him towards the second incubator._

_When the assistant heard Cloud softly whine after he placed him back in the incubator, he ordered in a loud tone, "Shut-up!"_

_Cloud slightly flinched before he became completely quiet after he heard the assistant's outburst. His breathing became heavy when the man pushed the button on the side of the incubator which made everything turn green before he hung his head low and everything went black._

* * *

"Nuh! Nuh!"

Zack's eyes widen in surprise and concern when he hears his best friend cry out. "Hey, it's okay Cloud," Zack tells him as he quickly sits down on the edge of the bed. He grabs his friend from under the arms and sits him up and wraps his arms around him to try and calm him down. Zack slightly tightens his grip around his friend when he feels the former infantryman trying to weakly squirm away from him. The former SOLDIER knows that Cloud's probably having a nightmare.

"Guh, nuh!" the young blonde cries out for the final time before he suddenly wakes up and opens his eyes. Cloud immediately feels relieved when he sees Zack watching over him. He manages to weakly grip his friend's arm for comfort. The nightmare feels so real to him that he isn't sure if it was just a bad dream or a past memory. He weakly grunts as he manages to slightly tighten his hold on Zack's arm. The very thought of being torn away from his best friend and being dragged back to the lab frightens him.

"You okay, kid?" Cloud tightly closes his eyes as he buries his face into Zack's shoulder after he hears his question. "Huh, Cloud?" Cloud buries his face deeper into his friend's shoulder in response. "You wanna tell me what happened?" Zack asks as he gently glides his hand up and down the blonde's back.

Cloud can feel Zack's eyes looking down on him before he decides to answer, "Ungh mngh ngh..." His incoherent mumbles suddenly comes to an end as he begins to whimper.

Zack gently strokes his hair when he feels Cloud's body tense up. "That bad, huh?" He says in a soothing voice, "Shhh, it's okay. Everything's alright now." Zack listens as his friend's whimpers turn into whines and soon they turn into sobs. After hearing his friend's cries, Zack gently scoops him up and sits him down on his lap. In an attempt to hide his tears, Cloud buries his face into Zack's chest before his friend tells him, "Cloud, hey...everything's okay." The ex-SOLDIER hates to see his younger friend so upset like this. In an attempt to try and calm his friend down, Zack begins to slowly rock him back and forth. "Shh, I'm here. You know that I'd never let anything happen to you." Cloud seems to calm down when he hears Zack's words because his sobs have been reduced to more whimpers instead. Zack reaches down and gently wipes Cloud's tears away as he tells him in a soft voice, "You okay now? Huh, buddy?" The former infantryman becomes silent as he gently nuzzles the side of his face into his older friend's chest. Zack gently holds his friend's hand when he notices Cloud's fist that's resting on his chest is weakly trembling. A feeling of sadness instantly comes over him when he notices the scar on Cloud's chest that's halfway hidden under the blonde's hand. The scar serves as a constant physical reminder of the real life nightmare that they've escaped from not long ago. He can't remember when Cloud got this scar...but he knows how. 'That's over now,' he thinks to himself. The ex-SOLDIER holds onto him a little tighter and promises, "Listen Cloud, they're not gonna get us and those bastards are never going to touch you ever again because I won't let them." He gently rests his chin on his friend's head as he continues to slowly rock him back and forth as he says, "Shhh."

Cloud takes a deep breath as he relaxes. The blonde can't help but feel tired because Zack is still rocking him back and forth and it's starting to put him to sleep. It isn't long at all until Cloud opens his mouth wide and lets out a groggy yawn, "Awwgh."

The corners of Zack's lips form into a big smile after seeing that Cloud is no longer upset. He's calm again...and tired. Zack soon finds himself yawning after seeing Cloud yawn a second time. The ex-SOLDIER can't help but softly chuckle and gently pats his younger friend on the shoulder before telling him in a soft voice, "You're making me tired, Cloud." Zack gives his friend a playful smile when he decides to tell him a small and harmless joke. He keeps smiling while he asks him, "Hey, ya want me to set you up on a date with that woman who works here? You know, the pretty girl at the desk?"

The former infantryman can feel his face turn red in response to Zack's question. He knows that Zack is joking, so he gives his friend a slight smile as he looks up at him with glazed over eyes. He slightly turns his head towards Zack's chest in an attempt to try and hide yet another yawn. Cloud lets out a groggy moan when he notices that Zack is no longer rocking him back and forth anymore.

The former SOLDIER yawns again, "Aawwgh." Zack laughs before telling him, "I'm supposed to be the one putting you to sleep, buddy. I can't go to sleep now because I still got to wash our clothes." Zack smiles down at him when he notices that Cloud's still blushing a little. "Okay, I won't set you up on a date with her." He softly chuckles before he adds, "I was just kidding. I know how shy you are with girls." Zack's eyes soon wander towards the clock. It's starting to get a little late, so he gently scoops up his friend and stands up. He gently lays him back down on the bed and covers him up with a blanket.

Zack immediately turns his head when he hears a knock at the door. "I wonder who that can be?"

The ex-SOLDIER looks down at Cloud when he hears him mumble, "Ungh, nuh mmnngh."

Zack replies, "I don't think it's them because they probably wouldn't knock." Before he begins to make his way towards the door, Cloud manages to gather as much strength as possible for him and weakly grabs his best friend by the wrist. A small caring smile appears on his face as he looks down at the former infantryman because it warms his heart to know that Cloud clearly worries about him. He playfully ruffles his friend's hair with his free hand before he tells him, "Don't worry, buddy. I'll be careful, I promise." When he hears a second knock at the door, he adds, "I'll see who it is first before I open it, okay?" After Cloud's hand weakly slides off of his wrist and back on the bed, Zack walks up to a window and slightly pulls the curtain back some and peeks outside. He feels greatly relieved when he doesn't see any infantrymen, but due to the angle, he's unable to see who's at the door. He grabs his Buster Sword before he marches up to the door and looks through the peek hole. He finds himself taking a deep breath of relief when he sees that it's the woman who works here from earlier. He leans the Buster Sword up against the wall before he unlocks the door and swings it open.

Upon seeing Zack, the young woman's face instantly turns red before she quickly looks down at the ground to try and be polite. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she apologizes. "Umm, I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

For a few seconds, Zack isn't entirely sure of what she's referring to..until he looks down. He has completely forgotten that all he has on are his boxer shorts and boots. Upon remembering that he's almost naked, Zack cracks the door to cover himself as he tells her, "Oh, sorry. I was just getting ready to wash my clothes."

Since the door is cracked now, the woman looks up at him and says, "Well, I'm sorry to disturb you, sir. But I heard someone screaming in here earlier and I just wanted to make sure that everything's okay."

"Oh, yeah we're fine. My little brother just had a bad dream, that's all."

"Oh, okay." She smiles at him and says, "Good night, sir."

"Night," he tells her before she walks away. Zack closes and locks the door before he leans his back up against the door and looks up at the ceiling as he lets out a deep sigh of relief.

"Mngh ngh, ugh," Cloud incoherently mumbles when he sees Zack walk towards him.

"It was the receptionist. You know, the nice lady at the desk."

Cloud gazes up at him as Zack sits down on the edge of the bed and strokes his hair as he tells him, "I'm gonna wash our clothes, okay?" Cloud softly moans in response. Zack gently places his hand on the side of Cloud's face. He can't help but smile when he sees Cloud turn his face towards his hand and let out another soft moan. While looking down at his younger friend, he can't get over at just how child-like Cloud is now. When they were in Nibelhiem Cloud was sixteen, but he no longer acts like he is due to his condition. Zack finds himself wondering at how old they are now. He's completely clueless at how long they were in the lab. He hopes that it was for just a few days, weeks, or months...but it felt more like years. He manages to push his thoughts away as he gives his friend a big smile. "I'll be in the bathroom washing our clothes, okay? If you need anything...anything at all, then just let me know, alright?"

"Ungh," Cloud groans to let Zack know that he understands.

"I'll be back in a little bit to check on you, okay Cloud?" The ex-SOLDIER climbs to his feet and marches into the bathroom. Zack washes both of their uniforms in the bathtub since there's no washer and dryer. After washing and hanging up their shirts and pants, he goes back into the bedroom and sits on the second bed. Since Cloud's still awake, Zack gives him a warm comforting smile while telling him, "You know something buddy, we probably have a few hours until our shirts and pants dry. So, we're gonna be sleeping in our boxers tonight." Zack's eyes trail over to the wall while he thinks out loud, "Man, how weird would it be if I was washing our clothes out in the wild and we'd be in nothing but our boxers, like how we are now, and a bunch of infantrymen would show up?"

Zack looks back at his younger friend and laughs as he jokes, "Those guys probably wouldn't know what to think if I had to fight them in my boxers. They probably wouldn't know if they should fight me or laugh at me." Zack looks at Cloud, still smiling and laughing as he says, "Tifa and Aerith would probably be liking our new outfits if they were here."

Looking over at a nearby clock that's hanging up on the wall which reads '9:57 p.m.', Zack smiles as he reaches over to Cloud's bed and playfully ruffles his friend's hair as he says, "Good night, kiddo." Cloud faintly smiles up at Zack as his eyes slowly slides shut, falling asleep. After that, the former SOLDIER kicks off his boots, lays down on the second bed, and falls asleep.

**Alright Chapter 3 is now posted. Hope that you all like it. I know that there was a few parts when I just kinda got to the point, especially the part towards the end when Zack had to give Cloud a bath, because um, well you know, I didn't really want to go into detail on that part. Please keep in mind that Cloud's semi-comatose, so in the actual storyline, chances are Zack probably did have to dress him, feed him, bathe him, things like that. This is not a slash story between Zack and Cloud either, so, anyone here who's into that kind of stuff, um, well, please don't think that way about this story alright? Anyways, I have been going back and editing and adding scenes in some of the chapters. So far, I added a few scenes in this chapter and chapter 4. I know that this story has a lot of angst. But hey, I like angst. I also know too that Zack probably wasn't depressed or anything while him and Cloud were on the run, but I do think that he may have had his moments when he was really worried about Cloud. I wasn't trying to make him sound depressed when he cried about Cloud's condition, just really worried. I'm hoping that he didn't sound out of character or anything on that part. Anyways, I hope that you all like this chapter and please review/comment to tell me what you all think. I really appreciate it.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 or any of the FF7 characters. FF7 and the FF7 characters rightfully belongs to Square-Enix. All I own is The Bahamut Dragons motorcycle gang, Zyloff, and the receptionist from the previous chapter, I guess.**

**Alright, Chapter 4. Zack and Cloud continue their journey. Genesis makes an appearance. There's also a pretty good comedic scene when Zack fights off some infantrymen in his boxers, haha. The credit for that scene goes to Sapphire Wind. Thanks a lot for that epically awesome idea Sapphire Wind, haha. Anyways, please review/comment. Oh, this chapter also happens a couple of days after the previous chapter. I'm gonna be kinda skipping around and not write a chapter for each day or anything, because, well with them being on the run for almost a year, it would take up a lot of chapters, haha. Just thought that I'd let you all know. Please, enjoy.**

**On the Run for Freedom**

**Chapter 4**

"Shin-Ra makes good stuff!" Zack shouts, driving on the desolate interstate on his motorcycle with Cloud sleeping peacefully in the sidecar.  
While driving down the road, the former SOLDIER sees two Genesis copies standing on the large steel sign post that's beamed across the highway. "Not again!" He shouts before he slams on the breaks. The tires loudly squeal on the road while he makes an attempt to stop his motorcycle.

Once the motorcycle comes to a complete stop, Zack gets off of it. He then unsheathes his Buster Sword as he walks towards the Genesis copies, who are now landing on the interstate a few feet in front of him.  
While he's walking, he soon feels a pain in his back, like someone hit him. The force of the blow knocks him down towards the copies. While trying to get back up, the copies grab both of his arms, holding him down on his knees.

"Get off of me!" He yells.

Suddenly, Genesis lands in front of him. The two Genesis copies are still holding Zack down so that he won't attack their leader, Genesis. Zack can feel one of them pulling his hair.

"Ah, my hair! Stop pulling!" He orders in an annoyed tone.

Genesis begins to calmly pace back and forth in front of them as he begins to quote the infamous Loveless poem.

"When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end The goddess descends from the sky Wings of light and dark spread afar She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting"

After Genesis finishes speaking, one of the copies, who's on Zack's left, holds up a lock of Zack's hair. Zack notices and looks at them, very confused and wondering at what they're going to do.

"That's my hair?" Zack calls out.

Genesis calmly looks over at Zack as he says, "You were a test subject in Hojo's new experiment. A modified version of Jenova's power runs through you."

Zack looks up at Genesis with a surprised and confused look on his face. "What? Seriously?"

Genesis motions for his copy to eat the lock of Zack's hair that the copy is holding in his hand. The copy willfully obeys. Zack watches the copy, completely stunned and confused at what he just witnessed.

"No way...he just ate my hair!"

"Your cells will be my gift of the goddess...The degradation will cease," Genesis says in a hopeful tone.

Zack finally and easily breaks free from both of the copies. Afterwards, he stands up straight and looks at Genesis.

"You...are twisted," he says, slightly glaring at the former SOLDIER in red.

Genesis slightly returns the glare as he says, "The monster has been harvested, and can be discarded."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Zack says in an angry tone, "You're the monster!"

With that being said, Genesis calmly turns around and starts to walk away while Zack follows him from behind. While walking away, Genesis devotingly quotes, "Legend shall speak Of sacrifice at world's end The wind sails over the water's surface Quietly, but surely"

The former SOLDIER First Class then spreads his large feathered black wing and flies away. As soon as Genesis departs, one of his copies flies away with him, leaving the one that ate a lock of Zack's hair behind.

"Ahh, uughh, ahhh!" The Genesis copy groans in pain while gripping his throat.

Before Zack's very eyes, the copy transforms into a monster and attacks him. After a few slashes with his Buster Sword along with the help of some materia, the monster soon falls and slowly begins to dissipate into green spirit energy as he starts to join the Lifestream. With the monster down, Zack sheathes his Buster Sword. He turns around and starts to walk towards his and Cloud's motorcycle.

About halfway there, he stops and turns back around. Gazing up at the dark starry night sky, wanting guidance from his dearly departed mentor, he asks, "Angeal...What do I do?" Turning back around, he walks away and climbs onto the seat of his motorcycle. He looks over at his sleeping friend and softly says, "Tell me..." Zack then starts up the motorcycle and speeds away.

* * *

Not long after the ordeal with Genesis, bullets suddenly start flying past them as they continue driving down the deserted interstate.

"Whoa, what the...?" Zack says, surprised. He wasn't expecting a highway chase from Shin-Ra. His eyes widen as one of the bullets almost hit him in the arm.

While swirving in different directions to help evade the oncoming onslaught of bullets, a speeding Shin-Ra military jeep races past them. Zack quickly shoots fire materia at them. The fire materia hits the jeeps tires, sending it spinning and soaring through the air, flying over them and crashing on to a Shin-Ra motorcycle behind them. The two vehicles explode into flames upon impact, forming a large mushroom shaped smoke cloud behind them.

With all of this commotion going on, Cloud wakes up. Curious of what's going on, he looks in front of them and slightly lifts his head up some. His eyes are still glazed over with the same blue-green mako tint as before, so it's a little hard for him to make things out. Everything's still green and blurry. He's able to hear gunshots and squealing of tires. Judging by the noises that's going on around him, he knows that there's danger close by. He wants so desperately to help Zack or at least warn him of the danger.

Zack sees Cloud lifting his head up some. "Stay down," Zack orders as he reaches over and gently pushes Cloud's head back down so that he won't get hurt.

The former infantryman instantly obeys as he realizes that his friend knows about the threat. However, the strong urge to help his friend is still there, but he knows that he can't do much of anything because of his current condition.  
Cloud silently curses himself for feeling useless. He completely dreads situations when he wants to help someone that he cares about and can't.

Zack looks back up in front of them to see a Shin-Ra jeep racing towards them straight ahead. The former SOLDIER unsheathes his Buster Sword and delivers the oncoming threat a glare. The infantrymen in the jeep begins shooting at them, however, Zack quickly uses his sword as a shield and deflects the oncoming bullets. While deflecting the bullets, one of the infantrymen who is manning the gun turret in the back of the jeep gets hit by some of the bullets that Zack deflects. The heavily injured infantryman lifelessly slumps to the floor of the back of the jeep. A few seconds later, the jeep begins to race past them.  
While the jeep speeds past them, Zack takes his sword and slices through the lower portion of the vehicle with ease. The damaged jeep then crashes into a light post, sending smoke and flames in all directions.  
There's still one more jeep and two more motorcycles left that's pursuing them, following close behind.

Just as Zack prepares to shoot more materia at their persistent pursuers, the infantrymen in the vehicles suddenly begins to get shot at.

"Huh?" Zack asks himself, confused.

"Wooo, hooo, hoo!" The former SOLDIER hears someone shout with excitement.

Looking behind them, Zack realizes that the people who's assisting them is the same motorcycle gang that they saw in the last town that they were in. With numerous bikers and a couple of trucks with people shooting at them, it doesn't take the infantrymen very long at all to become over run. The gang easily wipes out the rest of the infantrymen in a matter of seconds.

Since the gang attacked Shin-Ra and not them, Zack decides to stop to thank them. After stopping and climbing off of his motorcycle, the former SOLDIER stands next to his motorcycle. Although the men helped them, Zack still doesn't fully trust them.  
All of the gang members also stop and climb off of their vehicles and start talking to each other. A tall, muscular, middle aged man with dark brown hair who's wearing a pair of black jeans, a dark blue t-shirt, black boots, and a black leather biker vest with a picture on the back of a bahamut dragon rising gracefully out of its own flames that reads 'The Bahamut Dragons' around the design, also climbs off of his motorcycle and slowly begins to walk up to Zack.

"My name's Zyloff. I'm the leader of The Bahamut Dragons," he proudly states in a deep voice. He offers Zack a handshake. "What's your name, kid?" He asks as him and Zack shake each others hand.

Of course, due to everything that him and his young friend has been through, Zack doesn't trust these people. He's grateful that they helped him and Cloud out though. He really doesn't want to tell them their real names either. So Zack quickly thinks of a couple of false names for himself and Cloud.

"My name's Chris. Nice to meet you. Thanks a lot for the help too," Zack tells him with a small smile.

Zyloff slightly smiles back as he says, "You're welcome. Anytime, kid."

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you help us?" Zack asks with a curious look on his face.

Zyloff lets out a deep hardy chuckle. "About a dozen guys against two young men ain't fair. Someone had to even the odds. Besides, we hate big government especially Shin-Ra," he states with a smirk. Zyloff kindly smiles as he says, "We're just a nomadic group who tries to help other people out from time to time. We're not a violent drug gang or anything. We're only violent if we have to be."

Of course the leader notices that both of the young men are wearing Shin-Ra SOLDIER uniforms, but he knows that something big is going on. 'Why were they attacking their own guys?' He inquisitively thinks to himself. He wants to ask the young man with the spiky black hair that he's talking to. However, Zyloff can't help but feel a little uneasy about the man's huge sword as well as his weird glowing blue eyes.  
Zyloff's eyes soon falls on Cloud, who has his eyes half-open and is sitting in the sidecar of his and Zack's motorcycle. By following Zyloff's eyes, Zack realizes that he's looking at his friend with a hint of recognition, as if he's slightly familiar with this scene.

"His name's Michael. He's my little brother," Zack lies, hoping to get the man's attention.

Zyloff quickly glances up at Zack, looking at him as if he wants to tell the former SOLDIER something. "If you don't mind me asking, does he have mako poisoning?"

Zack's eyes widen. He's surprised that the older man was able to guess exactly what's wrong with his friend. 'How does he...?' He thinks to himself. He shoots Zyloff a serious look and slightly furrows his eyebrows before he answers, "No. He's just tired from the trip, that's all."

However, Zyloff ignores Zack's answer and just as he starts to walk past Zack to take a look at the blonde, the former SOLDIER quickly grabs Zyloff by the arm. Concerned about the safety of their leader, the other bikers immediately grab their guns. Zyloff notices and quickly raises his free hand, motioning for them to put their weapons away. The bikers obey Zyloff's order and puts their guns away.

Looking up at Zack, Zyloff gives him a kind and sympathetic look as he tells him, "It's alright. I promise that I'm not going to hurt you guys. I just want to help."

Zack keeps his eyes locked on him as he releases his grip and lets him go. With Zack following close behind, the biker leader walks over to Cloud and slightly kneels down in front of him. Gently cupping his hands on both sides of Cloud's face, he gently tilts his head up and examines his eyes, which are still glazed over. Upon seeing Cloud's eyes, Zyloff gives the young blonde a worried look. However, with the biker leader being a stranger to him, he doesn't want to frighten him in any way, so he manages to force himself to kindly smile when Cloud gazes up at him.

Of course, Cloud doesn't know what to think. Although his vision isn't the greatest right now, he is still able to make out some of the man's features. Therefore, he knows right away that this man isn't Zack. He is able to make out Zack standing next to the man. Since Zack's there, Cloud doesn't put up any act of resistance and allows the stranger to examine his eyes. He doesn't offer any resistance simply because he feels really tired and he knows that he's safe as long as his best friend is around.

Zack can't help but feel curious at how Zyloff knew about Cloud's condition. He decides to ask him, "So are you like a doctor or something?"

Zyloff turns to Zack and answers, "Sort of. I used to be a pediatrician." He turns his head and focuses his attention back on the young blonde in front of him.

The former SOLDIER finds it kind of strange that a biker gang leader used to be a pediatrician. Zack can tell that Zyloff seems to be a good man, although he may have a bit of a rebellious attitude with him being a biker leader and all. Of course there's nothing wrong with that, as long as they don't kill innocent people and try to help others, which they do.

Zack crosses his arms and looks at Zyloff. "So, you're a doctor for kids then?"

Zyloff gently lets go of Cloud's face and turns to Zack as he says, "I used to be but not anymore." While looking at Zack, Zyloff gives him a concerned look as he informs him, "I'm sorry, but he has a very severe case of mako poisoning."

Of course, Zack already knows that. He still wants to know how this man knew about the former infantryman's condition, so he decides to get to the point and ask him, "How did you know about that?"

"I have some family that lives in the village of Mideel. During a visit a couple of years ago, my cousin was exposed to a small amount of mako. She got mako poisoning, but it wasn't severe. I helped look out for her until she got better."

"Oh, it's a good thing that she recovered. That was very nice of you to help her," Zack kindly replies.

Sensing that the former SOLDIER is worried about the blonde, Zyloff gives Zack a friendly smile as he says, "Hey Chris, I'll go ahead and give you my cell phone number. That way, if you and Michael need anything, just give me a call and we'll be right over as soon as we can."

Zyloff reaches into his pants pocket, pulling out a pen and paper he quickly writes down his name and cell phone number and gives it to Zack.

Zack accepts it and puts it in his pants pocket as he says, "Thank you, Zyloff. We really appreciate the help."

"You're welcome. Here, take this," he orders as he reaches into his other pants pocket and hands Zack some money and a folded up map. "I know that it ain't much, but it should be enough to help you boys out."

Zack looks down at the money and the map in his hands. "Thanks, but I can't accept this."

He holds the items up to Zyloff, expecting for him to take it back. However, the biker leader refuses. "We have enough money already and I can tell that you're desperate. We also have another map. As I've said before, I want to help you and so I am."  
The biker leader turns around and begins to walk towards his motorcycle, about halfway there, he stops and turns around. "Listen, we're going to Cosmo Canyon. Would you boys like to come with us?"

Zack smiles while he answers, "No thanks. We appreciate the offer, but we're going to Midgar."

Zyloff returns the smile and nods. "Alright. You two boys take good care of each other now." Zyloff climbs onto his motorcycle. Looking back at Zack, he gives him a friendly smile. He starts the engine before he turns to his men and orders, "Let's go guys."

They all drive away, eventually disappearing into the shadows of the night.  
Zack puts the money in his pants pocket while he turns around and climbs onto his motorcycle. Looking down at Cloud, he smiles and says, "Wow, I can't believe that we just made friends with a motorcycle gang." He lets out a small chuckle as he says, "That would really be something to tell my parents, huh Cloud?"

"Uunghh, mmngh, ngh," Cloud incoherently mumbles in response.

Zack takes the folded up map and wedges it between Cloud and the seat. Zack smiles at Cloud as he asks, "You don't mind holding onto this do you, buddy?"

Cloud answers him with a small groan.

Zack lets out a soft chuckle as he jokes, "I declare you, Cloud Strife, the guardian of the map. That's a very important task."

Cloud lets out another small groan, "Ungh."

Zack playfully ruffles his friend's hair as he responds, "Because with the map we'll know where we're going." Zack starts up the motorcycle and leaves.

* * *

After getting off of the interstate, they drive around for a couple of hours and they soon come to a small clearing a few miles away from the road. The small clearing is surrounded by large tall trees that rises towards the sky and the ground is covered with lush green grass. There's also a few shrubs and large rocks.

Since he decides to stop here for the night, Zack climbs off of the motorcycle. He smiles when he hears a fast moving stream nearby because him and Cloud don't need to worry about rationing their water anymore right now.

"This looks like a good place to rest for tonight," Zack states as he grabs a sleeping bag from the back of their motorcycle.

The former SOLDIER walks over to the nearby clearing and rolls out the sleeping bag on the ground. Afterwards, he walks up to retrieve his friend. Cloud lets out a groggy moan as Zack picks him up and carries him over to his sleeping bag.

After he gently lays his friend down on his sleeping bag and covers him up, Zack kneels down next to him and says, "I know that we didn't eat today, but I promise that I'll get us a bite to eat in the morning for breakfast, okay? I would have us eat something now" he glances up at the late night sky "but it's getting pretty late."

Just as Zack starts to get up, he suddenly feels something pull on his pants leg. At first, Zack thought that his pants leg got caught on a stick or something. However, when he looks down, he sees Cloud weakly gripping his pants leg.

"Hey, it's alright. I'm just gonna go and get my sleeping bag," Zack says in a gentle voice.

Cloud's grip remains, refusing to let go. Zack gently pats him on the shoulder as he says, "I promise that I'm not going anywhere. As soon as I get my sleeping bag, I'll come right back, okay?"

With that being said, Cloud cautiously lets go. Zack smiles down at him as he pulls Cloud's sleeping bag blanket up to help keep his arms warm. He climbs to his feet and grabs his sleeping bag before he rolls it out on the ground next to his friend. After laying down next to the former infantryman, Zack wraps an arm around him from behind. Cloud's eyes begin to slowly close in slumber until he feels his older friend behind him move around. Cloud can't help but feel slightly annoyed at his older friend because he wants to go to sleep and Zack keeps moving around. Eventually, Cloud groans to show Zack that he's starting to annoy him. "Sorry buddy, I just can't get comfortable." Zack rolls over on his back and stares at the starry night sky. He soon turns his head and looks over at his friend before he softly whispers, "Hey Cloud? Are you awake?"

Cloud lets out a groggy moan in response.

Zack gazes up at the starry night sky again. "Do you think I should build a shelter real quick?"

Cloud softly sighs before responding with an incoherent mumble, "Nuh, unngh ngh muhh."

Zack looks at his friend with a puzzled look on his face. He has no idea what he just said. After a few silent seconds, Zack decides to ask his younger friend, "So you think I should build a shelter?"

Cloud sighs again before he replies, "Nuh."

Zack remains quiet as he tries to figure out what 'nuh' means. 'Hmm, 'nuh' sounds kinda like 'no', he thinks to himself. "So that's a no?"

"Nuh," is Cloud's simple response.

Zack immediately makes a mental note to himself as he thinks, 'Okay. 'Nuh' means no. Alright, got it.'

Cloud begins to drift off to sleep until Zack suddenly rolls over again and wraps an arm around him. Cloud sighs when he feels Zack's arm trail up to his chest and gently grab his shoulder. Cloud lets out an annoyed groan when Zack slightly rolls over on his back. After a few minutes, Zack rolls over on his side again. He should be exhausted but he just can't get comfortable. He doesn't really feel very tired either for some reason.  
Cloud is getting pretty annoyed with Zack now. Just because Zack is having a hard time falling asleep doesn't mean Cloud is too. Cloud lets out a soft grunt as he manages to weakly kick Zack in the shin with the heel of his boot, which feels so much more like a pathetic weak tap than a kick. After Cloud's actions, Zack quickly sits up. "Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot to take off your boots. Thank you for reminding me, Cloud," Zack tells him with a smile as he climbs out of his sleeping bag. "I've gotta take mine off too."

Cloud lets out an annoyed moan that's followed by a frustrated glare as he looks up at Zack after he rolls him over on his back. The reason why Cloud kicked Zack in the shin was to show him that he wants him to lay still and be quiet so that he can go to sleep. He didn't do that to remind Zack to take his boots off.

After noticing Cloud's facial expression, Zack explains, "Sorry man, but I've gotta take off your boots because you might get blisters on your feet if you sleep with them on." Cloud's frustrated glare fades away after listening to Zack's explanation. After removing his and Cloud's boots, Zack lays back down on his sleeping bag and covers up.

"Ughh," Cloud groans in an attempt to get Zack's attention.

"Huh?" Zack asks as he turns his head and looks at his friend.

Cloud wants for Zack to roll him back over on his side. In an attempt to try and make Zack understand what he wants, Cloud turns his head over to the left and lets out a soft whimper.

"Oh, you want to lay on you side?" When Cloud doesn't make a sound, Zack decides to try a different approach. He asks, "Do you want to lay on your back?"

"Nuh," Cloud answers.

The ex-SOLDIER is sure that 'nuh' means no. "Okay." He gently rolls his younger friend over on his side so that he'll be more comfortable.

Zack smiles as he wraps a protective arm around his friend again and pulls him close. Cloud can't really help but feel a little confused because it's not cold out right now. Cloud doesn't really mind that much because it makes him feel safe, but sometimes he wishes that he can tell Zack that he's not a stuffed animal. Of course, Zack does have a reason why he wrapped an arm around his friend. He knows that Cloud isn't cold. The reason why he wrapped an arm around him is to make sure that his friend will be safe throughout the night. He knows that Cloud can't actually get up and walk away, but he wants to make sure that he won't get stolen away from him in case any infantrymen or animals sneak up on them during the night.

It remains completely quiet for several seconds until Zack asks, "Cloud?" His voice surprisingly sounds groggy now because he's finally starting to feel tired.

Cloud closes his eyes before he moans in a groggy voice, "Ungh?"

A smile finds its way on Zack's face as he answers, "Night." They both fall asleep within a few minutes.

* * *

After they both wake up the next morning, Zack props his friend up against a nearby tree and gets them both some breakfast from their supply bag, as promised. While sitting there, Cloud notices that he can see normal right now. Everything is no longer green and blurry, but is now in its correct shade of color.

Once they get done eating, Zack looks at his friend and says, "Hey Cloud, my clothes are a little dirty so I'm gonna go ahead and wash them before we go, alright?" While looking at Cloud's SOLDIER outfit that the blonde is wearing, Zack says, "Your outfit isn't dirty, so I'll just wash mine. With these being the only clothes that we have, I want to try and take real good care of them."

Zack takes off his shirt and pants to where all that he has on is a pair of black boxers and boots. However, not long after Zack gets undressed, a small group of infantrymen emerge from the nearby trees.

Zack lets out a sigh. "Oh man, you've gotta be kidding me."

After grabbing a thundaga materia, Zack quickly runs over to them to where he's only a few feet away from them.  
The infantrymen look at Zack, looking very confused and a little creeped out with him being in nothing but his boxers and boots.

"Men, attack!" The infantrymen captian orders, struggling not to laugh.

One of the infantrymen bursts out laughing. After he calms down some, he manages to ask, "Sir, are you serious?"

"Dude, put some pants on," another infantryman says as he places his hand over his eyes and looks down at the ground.

"Of course I'm serious. Now fight him," the captain orders, still struggling not to laugh.

The infantrymen attack Zack, however, just as they start to fight, Zack uses the thundaga materia that he has equipped to easilly dispatch them.

With the threat gone, he walks over to his friend, who's still leaning up against the tree. He quickly puts his clothes back on as he says, "On second thought, I'll just wash these later on. They're not really that dirty anyways." Zack makes that decision because he really doesn't want to fight anymore guys like that again.

After he gets dressed, the former SOLDIER sits down next to his friend. During this moment, Zack can't help but remember what he told Cloud just a couple of days ago when they were at the motel. When he mentioned how weird that it would be if he had to fight some infantrymen in only his boxers and boots. The strange thing is that it actually came true.

Zack laughs as he says, "Man, I really wasn't expecting that. Were you?"

Cloud remains silent in response as he continues to look down at the ground.

"Good thing that my boxers stayed on and didn't slide down or anything."

Cloud lets out a moan of protest which is followed by a shudder at his friend's statement.

Concerned that it may happen, Zack laughs and says, "I'm going to stop talking about that right now." Zack chuckles when he hears Cloud let out a low sigh of relief.

The former SOLDIER moves in front of Cloud, preparing to pick him up. However, Zack notices that Cloud's eyes are no longer glazed over at all anymore. Instead they're bright blue like an ocean. A feeling of relief floods into Zack's heart as he realizes that his friend may actually be getting better. He happily wraps his arms around the young blonde, giving him a friendly hug. Cloud's head goes limp over Zack's shoulder.  
After their hug, he gently picks his friend up and carries him over to the motorcycle as he says, "We should get going, kiddo."

**Okay, there's Chapter 4. I hope that you all like it and please review/comment to tell me what you all think about it. I might edit this later. Thank you all so much for reading this too, I really appreciate it. Oh, and with Cloud's eyes being glazed over, I'm gonna have it to where his eyes will be glazed over on some days, and other days his eyes will be fine. The part towards the end when Zack fights those infantrymen in his boxers, that was also Sapphire Wind's idea, so the credit for that scene respectfully goes to Sapphire Wind. I also would like to thank Sapphire Wind for that idea, thank you so much Sapphire Wind, I really appreciate your ideas. Haha, that's two ideas from Sapphire Wind now, haha, thank you. Anyways, please review/comment to tell me what you all think.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7 or any of the Final Fantasy 7 characters. Final Fantasy 7 and the Final Fantasy 7 characters rightfully belongs to Square-Enix.**

**Okay, Chapter 5. I hope that you all like this chapter. There's a flashback scene in this chapter, that scene will be in italics_. _Kunsel also makes an appearance. Please feel free to review/comment to tell me what you all think about it, I would really appreciate that. Anyways, please enjoy.**

**On the Run for Freedom**

**Chapter 5**

"And we're out of gas," Zack says with a dissapointed sigh. Their motorcycle slowly comes to a stop at the side of the road. They're out in the middle of nowhere with no houses or buildings. Other than them, the only signs of life are trees and grass. Looking over at Cloud, who slightly has his eyes opened, Zack tells him, "We're gonna have to walk to the nearest gas station." Zack pulls out the map that was given to them by Zyloff and studies it. After studying it for a couple of minutes, he figures out that there's a gas station about thirty miles away from here.  
Zack climbs out of the motorcycle and walks over to get Cloud.

"Come on kiddo," Zack says as he pulls Cloud out of the sidecar. He grabs the supply bag along with the map and begins half-carrying Cloud as they begin walking, in search of a gas station.

While walking, Zack lets out a small chuckle. "Hey Cloud, remember that one time when I was training you?" Cloud remains silent in response as Zack recalls the unforgettable memory.

* * *

_In the training room on the SOLDIER floor in the Shin-Ra building, a young SOLDIER 1st Class was going over the basics about combat to an even younger infantryman. __"Remember Cloud, in combat it's important to use your environment to your advantage," Zack told him in a firm tone._

_"Uh-huh," Cloud answered as he nodded his head. Looking up at the SOLDIER, the young infantryman asked, "But what if my opponent is stronger than me? Then what?"_

_Zack planted his fist into his other hand as he answered, "It's not always about strength. Something else that you need to remember is that you can also use your oppenent's strength against him."_

_Cloud nodded as he replied, "Oh, okay."_

_"Here. Put this on," he told him as he handed Cloud a pair of virtual reality glasses. Cloud did as Zack ordered before the SOLDIER pulled out his cell phone, preparing to activate the virtual reality system that's used for training. Just as he's about to activate it, a SOLDIER 2nd Class who's wearing a helmet walked in. _

_"Hey, Zack. Hey, Cloud. Haven't seen you guys in a while. What have you two been up to?" The SOLDIER 2nd Class asked in a kind voice as he stood off to the side and crossed his arms._

_Zack and Cloud smiled at him. "Hi Kunsel. Um, not much really. I'm just getting ready to give a few lessons to Cloud," Zack replied._

_"Oh, really? I'm not busy or anything, is it okay with you guys if I stay and observe?" Kunsel asked._

_Cloud stood up straight and answered, "I don't mind, sir."_

_"I don't mind either, buddy," Zack said with a smile before putting his attention on his phone again and activated the virtual reality system._

_With the virtual reality system now activated, the room that the trio was standing in began to change and alter around them as a completely different environment began to take shape, shifting around them. Zack and Kunsel remained completely calm during this time, almost as if nothing's going on. They're used to training like this, they've both trained like this several times before._

_Cloud on the other hand, hasn't trained like this as much. The infantryman eagerly looked around, watching the environment alter and piece together like a puzzle around him. __'Man, that's so weird. I don't know if I can ever get used to that,' Cloud thought to himself as he watched the environment shift._

_After a few seconds, the environment stopped shifting and altering, revealing a large round spacious area that they're now standing in, a bright blue sky above them, a stone ground beneath them, and towering walls of bamboo trees about thirty feet away that's surrounding them._

_"I'll be over here if you guys need me," Kunsel said as he marched over to a nearby stone bench and sat down._

_Zack walked over and grabbed two training swords that's made out of wood. Handing Cloud one of them, he asked, "Are you ready?"_

_Cloud nodded as he firmly grasped the wooden sword, gets in his fighting stance, and took a deep breath._

_"Good. You remember what I told you?"_

_"Yeah," Cloud answered as he remained in his stance._

_"Alright. Remember the rules; don't go for the face or the head, whoever gets your opponent into submission wins, and of course, don't try to kill each other." Zack let out a small chuckle at the last part of the statement._

_Once Zack got into his fighting stance, firmly gripping his wooden sword, him and Cloud began the training session. With every sword swing, they both blocked each other's every attack._

_Kunsel began cheering both of them on. Raising an arm up in the air, he excitedly cheered, "Yeah! Go Zack, go!" He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Go Cloud, go for the legs!"_

_"Hey, who's side are you on?" Zack asked as he stopped attacking and looked over at Kunsel._

_Just as Zack asked that, Cloud swung at him and accidently hit him in the arm._

_"Ow! Hey Cloud, no cheating," Zack said as he rubbed his arm._

_Knowing that Zack wasn't in any real danger, Kunsel began laughing at his friend. The SOLDIER 2nd Class managed to stop laughing long enough to say, "Oh man, Strife is kicking your ass Fair!" After saying that, Kunsel continued laughing._  
_He's never seen a rookie, let alone an infantryman get a hit in on a SOLDIER member before. Just about every infantryman that he's seen acted like they were intimidated just by the very sight of a SOLDIER member. Kunsel wasn't sure if it was because of the enhancements that made SOLDIER members super-human or because they were higher ranking. Perhaps it was both._

_Cloud let out a startled gasp. Concerned, and yet very worried that his best friend is hurt and may be mad at him, he stammered, "Zack! I-I'm so sorry sir! A-are you al-alright?" He quickly dropped his wooden sword and ran over to Zack._

_"It's okay, Cloud. I'm oww..." Zack said as him and Cloud accidently head bumped each other._

_Kunsel's laughter got even louder as he fell off of the bench and landed on his side. He managed to say through his laughter, "Oh, you guys are killing me! If you two ever get into any trouble, you can always just put your heads together!"_

_The spiky haired duo rolled their eyes at Kunsel's joke and continued rubbing their heads where they got hit at._

_"I really am sorry, Zack. I swear that I didn't mean to hit you," Cloud apologized in a slight shaky voice._

_Zack smiled as he told him, "Don't worry about it. I'm alright." Zack gave Cloud a playful punch to the arm, which caused Cloud to smile back._

_After a few seconds, Kunsel climbed back onto the bench and stopped laughing. Now that Kunsel has calmed down, Zack continued Cloud's training session._ _Standing a few feet across from each other with their wooden swords in hand, Zack ordered, "Alright Cloud, I want you to give me everything you've got."_

_Cloud's eyes slightly widened in surprise as he looked up at him. "Sir?"_

_"Charge at me and attack me with everything you have," he ordered in a firm tone._

_Cloud looked at Zack, a confused and hesitant look on his face. He's worried that he might hit Zack again._

_Sensing that Cloud was being hesitant, Zack smiled at him and said in a kind voice, "It's okay."_

_Cloud nodded and took a deep breath before he charged at Zack. Once he got up to Zack, he swung his wooden practice sword to Zack's right. Cloud only sliced through the air as Zack quickly and easily dodged the attack. The blonde took another swing at the SOLDIER, Zack quickly blocked the attack. Both of them had their wooden swords crossed together.  
Cloud let out a grunt as he used all of his strength, desperately trying to break through Zack's block. However, due to Zack being a member of SOLDIER, breaking through his block was impossible for him to do. Zack easilly broke through Cloud's block by using his wooden sword to push back, knocking the infantryman down to the ground. Cloud let out a grunt when he landed flat on his back on the stone ground. Zack walked over to the defeated infantryman and knelt down next to him._

_"You alright? I didn't hurt you did I?" Zack asked in a concerned tone._

_"No," Cloud panted._

_Zack smiled down at him as he informed, "Something else that you need to remember too, is that you must never use up too much energy in a single attack. You got that?"_

_Cloud sat up and nodded his head as his breathing started to become normal again. Zack stood up and reached a hand towards Cloud, offering to help him up. Cloud smiled as he reached for Zack's hand and Zack helped him climb up to his feet._

_'He's so much faster and stronger than me. How on Gaia am I supposed to defeat him?' The blonde thought to himself._

_"Remember, it's not always about strength. You may be able to defeat me the same way that I defeated you; by tiring your opponent out. You were trying to use strength to defeat me, and in doing so, you wore yourself out. Something that you can try is that if your opponent is stronger than you, you can just keep evading his attacks and eventually, he'll get tired. That would give you a good advantage," Zack informed, giving Cloud some advice._

_"Yeah, okay." Cloud nodded his head._ _'Sometimes I wonder if he can read my mind or something,' he thought to himself._

_Zack smiled as he said, "We'll do one more round. This time, I want you to do everything that you can to try and win. Got it?"_

_Cloud nodded in response. He firmly grasped his wooden sword in his hands and stood in his fighting stance. Zack stood a few feet in front of him and also prepared himself for the next training round._ _Once they're both ready, they began the next round. This time, Zack charged at Cloud and swung his wooden sword at him. Cloud quickly blocked the attack, however, the force from the attack knocked him down again. While Cloud's lying flat on the ground, Zack swung his wooden sword at him. The infantryman managed to block the attack again._

_With their wooden swords crossed, Zack smiled at him as he asked, "How do you expect to defeat me from down there?" He let out a small chuckle as he jokeed, "I'm beginning to think that you like it down there."_

_Cloud looked up at him with a smirk and with a quick swipe of his foot, he tripped the SOLDIER. Zack fell to the ground, giving Cloud enough time to climb to his feet and quickly stumble into the nearby bamboo forest. Zack got up and chased after him, however, once he started to follow him into the bamboo forest, one of the bamboo trees sprung towards him. Zack easilly blocked it with his wooden training sword, he knew that was Cloud's doing. After he blocked that, he saw and heard the bamboo trees rustling around. Realizing that Cloud was taking his advice, he proudly shouted, "Yes, that's it Cloud! Use your surroundings to your advantage!"_  
_However, what Zack didn't know is that right now Cloud was running through the bamboo forest towards the other side in an attempt to try and sneak up on his friend._  
_"I don't know what you're up to, but I do know that you're up to something buddy! You know that I can read you like a comic book!" The young SOLDIER 1st Class smiled as he eagerly looked around, searching the large open area that he's in for Cloud._

_"Did you lose track of your apprentice already Zack?" Kunsel asked with a grin._

_Zack looked over at him as he answered, "Of course not. I'm just waiting for him to come back out, that's all."_ _Zack turned back around to where he was facing towards the bamboo forest where Cloud ran in at. "Hey Cloud? Whenever you're done playing in there, we'll continue your training!" He shouted with a smile. Not long after that, he heard someone behind him. Zack quickly turned around and raised his wooden sword, holding it up to his opponent's neck. He soon saw that it's Cloud. The blonde's also holding his wooden sword up to Zack's neck._

_Kunsel stood up with his mouth dropped open. He couldn't believe it. "A draw," he said in disbelief. A SOLDIER 1st Class and an infantryman simultaneously defeated each other. 'That's never happened before, has it?' The young SOLDIER 2nd Class thought to himself._

_Zack and Cloud smiled at each other and lowered their wooden swords. "Great job." Zack patted his friend on the back. "You almost kick as much ass as I do", he joked as he let out a chuckle. "You did very good, Cloud," Zack said as he rested his arm across Cloud's shoulder. "In fact, you did so good that you deserve a nickname," he said as he smiled._

_"A nickname?" Cloud asked before he looked down at the ground._

_"Yeah." Zack softly chuckled and replied, "I gave Kunsel a nickname, sometimes I call him Helm." Zack put a finger up to his chin, thinking. "Hmm, for you, how about 'Spike' or 'Spiky'?"_

_"Why those options?" The blonde asked as he looked up at Zack._

_Zack let out a small chuckle and playfully ruffled Cloud's hair as he answered, "Because of your spiky hair."_

_Cloud ducked his head some to get away from Zack a bit before letting out a soft chuckle and said in a playful tone, "Yeah well, look who's talking."_

_Zack laughed at Cloud's words and replied, "Okay then. How about 'Kid' or 'Kiddo'?"_

_"I'm not a kid Zack," Cloud said in a calm tone._

_Zack smiled and told him, "Oh, come on Cloud. Those nicknames aren't that bad."_

_Cloud looked at Kunsel as the SOLDIER 2nd Class told him with a smile, "Hey, Strife? Would you like to know what Zack's nickname is?"_

_Cloud just nodded in response. Zack didn't really care that Kunsel was about to tell Cloud his nickname because Angeal used to call him that when he was younger due to his cheerful and restless personality. Hearing it again reminded him of the good old days._

_Kunsel couldn't help but softly chuckle before he answered, "Zack the Puppy."_

_A small smile found its way on Cloud's face after he discovered Zack's nickname._

_Zack decided to change the subject. He remained smiling at his younger friend as he said, "Hey, Cloud?"_

_Cloud looked up at him. "Huh?"_

_The SOLDIER 1st Class decided to give the infantryman some very good advice when he replied, "Embrace your dreams. If you want to be a hero, you need to have dreams."_

_Cloud remained quiet as he looked down at the ground to think about what his best friend just told him._

_Zack gave his friends a big smile after he noticed that his words were a reflection of what his mentor, Angeal, told him a couple of years ago. The SOLDIER then took out his phone and deactivated the virtual reality training system. After their training arena faded away, Zack noticed the time that it said on his cell phone. Zack's eyes widened when he saw what time it was. "Oh, man!"_

_"What's wrong, Zack?" Cloud asked as he removed the virtual reality glasses._

_Zack suddenly looked up at Cloud and Kunsel before he answered, "I um, I have to meet someone right now. I'm sorry to run out on you guys, but I really have to go. I'll talk to you guys later, okay? We'll go out for pizza sometime." Zack quickly and eagerly ran out of the training room. He promised Aerith that he'd visit her today._

* * *

"I miss Kunsel. Of course, I do miss Aerith more though." Zack suddenly comes back to reality when he hears Cloud beside him breathing heavily. They must've walked about twenty miles by now. They stop walking when Zack hears Cloud hoarsely moan. They've been on the run for about five months now, and Zack has actually gotten used to Cloud's new language. Each moan, groan, grunt, whimper, and every other sound that he makes has a specific meaning. "Oh, you're probably thirsty, huh?" Zack gently sits his younger friend down to where he's leaning up against a tree. He grabs a water bottle from the supply bag and gives him some water. The former infantryman desperately chugs some of the water down. After a few seconds, Cloud lets out a betrayed whimper when Zack suddenly pulls the water bottle away. "I know that you're still thirsty, but we need to try and ration this some too, okay?" He puts the water bottle away, grabs his friend, and continues walking down the side of the road.

* * *

After walking for about twenty-seven miles, they finally reach a gas station. Zack takes a deep breath and says, "Alright buddy, we're finally here. All we need to do now is get the gas and something to put it in" Zack lets out a sigh as he says "and then walk all the way back to the motorcycle."

"Ngh," Cloud lets out a worn out groan.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. We'll get some more food here too."

Once he gets some more food, along with a gas can and some gas, they head back to the motorcycle. A few hours later, they finally make it back to the motorcycle and leave.

* * *

After driving around for a while, they end up in a lush green forest with tall trees reaching towards the night sky. After a few minutes, they come to a stop. "I've seen a cave on the way here. It's about a half a mile away," Zack states as he walks over and gets Cloud and the supply bag. "Come on, buddy. I'm sorry but we need to walk some more."

After hearing what his friend just said, Cloud lets out a moan of protest as Zack lifts him out of the side car. His feet hurt from all of that walking from earlier and he really doesn't want to walk anymore.  
Zack lets out a soft grunt as he gently props him up against a nearby tree. "Wait here for a minute, I'm going to cover up our motorcycle." The former SOLDIER quickly gathers a few large leafy tree branches and lays them over the motorcycle to conceal it in case any Shin-Ra troops come around. When he's done, he walks over and begins half-carrying Cloud, walking in the direction where the cave is located.

However, when they're about halfway to the cave, Zack stops. As he looks around, he says, "I thought I heard something." He lets out a sigh as he says in a cautious sounding voice, "Nevermind. I guess it's nothin'." They continue walking.  
A few seconds later, he hears the same noise from before. It sounds kind of like a lawn mower or something, and it's getting louder. Zack quickly turns around to suddenly see a bright light shining through the trees in the distance, and it's coming towards them.  
"Damn it, that's definitely something," he says in a firm voice as he starts to race towards the cave. It doesn't take the former SOLDIER long at all to realize that it's a helicopter. A helicopter that's probably been dispatched to mercilessly hunt down and 'take care of' the so-called fugitives by any means neccessary.

It's kind of hard for Zack to run while he's half-carrying his friend. Cloud's still exhausted from the long walk to the gas station and back. Zack can tell because he's barely walking at all really, he's pretty much just dragging his feet right now. Due to the present situation, Zack quickly picks up Cloud and tosses him over his left shoulder so that he can run faster. He looks up and sees the cave in sight, just a few feet away.  
Once they reach the cave, Zack quickly slides his sword and the supply bag inside. The cave entrance is small, so small that they're going to have to crawl to get inside. The helicopter is still flying behind them, heading towards them.  
Zack quickly removes Cloud from his shoulder and starts to crawl inside of the cave. He grabs his friend from under the arms and quickly pulls him in. However, when Zack pulls the blonde inside, he falls backwards and Cloud lands on top of him.  
Zack can feel his heart race as he hears the sound of the helicopter coming even closer. Just the sound of the helicopter blades slicing through the air is enough to make Zack feel uneasy. Uneasy because he knows just how persistent Shin-Ra is.  
Zack protectively tightens his arms around Cloud's chest when he hears the helicopter fly directly over the cave. He listens as the noise slowly begins to fade away and all becomes silent, except for their breathing.

After a few minutes of just lying there on the cave floor with Cloud lying on top of him, Zack finally breaks the silence, "I don't think that they saw us. If they did, then they would've dropped off some men by now."

"Ungh," Cloud moans that sounds almost pained.

Zack looks at him and realizes that he is holding onto him pretty tight. The former SOLDIER quickly loosens his grip on him. "Oh, I'm sorry about that buddy." Zack takes a deep breath and says, "Man, that was close." Lifting his head up some, he tells his friend, "I bet that I know what you're thinking; 'no, this is close.'" He smiles and softly chuckles.  
He gently grabs Cloud and props him up against the cave wall. "I'll be back soon, I'm gonna go ahead and get some fire wood." After sheathing his sword, Zack walks up to the exit and lays down on his stomach and partially crawls through, cautiously looking around. It looks and sounds safe outside.  
Since the coast is clear, Zack crawls out the rest of the way and gathers some nearby sticks and small tree branches for the fire. Just before he goes back into the cave, he sees a large tree branch laying next to the cave entrance. "Hmm, this will be useful," he says before he crawls back into the cave and drags the tree branch over the entrance to help conceal it.

* * *

After starting the campfire and getting them both something to eat, Zack unsheathes the Buster Sword and leans it up against the cave wall. He sits down next to Cloud and pats him on the knee. "How ya doing, kiddo?"

"Guh," Cloud mumbles.

Zack looks at him and notices something; his lips are moving, but no words are coming. It looks like he's trying to talk, but is unable to. It's a heart wrenching sight, and yet, it's also an exciting moment because it's a sign that's letting Zack know that Cloud's doing his best to overcome this. Zack keeps his eyes focused on Cloud.

"Come on, Cloud. You can do it. I know you can," he says, his voice full of kindness and encouragement.

Cloud remains silent for now, but continues to move his lips, trying to say an actual word. Zack instantly decides to try and help him out.

"Can you say our names?" Zack asks. Afterwards, he places his hand on his own chest as he says, "I'm Zack." He removes his hand and places his hand on Cloud's chest and says, "You're Cloud."

"Ungh, C..Cl.." He then falls silent.

Knowing that his friend is trying to say his own name, and came close, Zack can't help but let out a cheerful laugh. He says with much encouragement, "Come on, Cloud. You're so close."

"Cl...Clo..ugh." The blonde decides to try and say his friend's name instead. "Z..ZZZ..." He falls silent again.

Once again, Zack places his hand on his chest and says, "Zack." He places his hand on Cloud's chest and says, "Cloud."

"ZZZ...ZZaa...Za." He suddenly becomes quiet.

Zack waits for Cloud to try and say their names again. However, the only sound that leaves the blonde after that is a soft whimper that sounds both sad and disappointed. The ex-SOLDIER isn't sure if he decided to give up or is too tired to try and say their names again. Zack wraps his arms around his friend and pulls him close for a friendly hug and says, "It's okay. I'm proud of you for trying, ya hear me? You don't have to prove anything to me, alright? I know how strong and tough you are. I'm really proud of you, Cloud."

Cloud's glad that he has a friend like Zack. He knows that if it wasn't for Zack, then he would probably still be in the nightmarish hellhole of a lab. Right now, he can't imagine what his life would be like without his best friend. There is only three people in this world that Cloud trusts so far; his mother, Tifa, and Zack. However, now his mother's dead because Sephiroth killed her. He has no idea where Tifa is or if she's even alive. So, that just leaves Zack. Therefore, that means that Zack is really all that he has right now.

**Alright, there's Chapter 5. I hope that you all like it and please leave reviews/comments to let me know what you all think about it. I'll try and get the 6th chapter on here soon. Thanks a lot for taking the time to read this, I really appreciate it.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7 or any of the Final Fantasy 7 characters. Final Fantasy 7 and the Final Fantasy 7 characters rightfully belongs to Square-Enix. I own nothing.**

**Hello everyone, I know that it's been a while since I posted anything. My apologies for that, I've been quite busy lately and my computer was also being a little uncooperative. Alright, Chapter 6, I hope that you all like this chapter. Some of this chapter is from Crisis Core and some of it isn't. Anyways, please leave a review/comment to let me know what you all think about it. Please enjoy.**

**On the Run for Freedom**

**Chapter 6**

"What an amazing view," a tall young man with black spiky hair states in awe as he stands close to the edge of a cliff and gazes at the vast ocean below. Zack closes his eyes when he feels the cool gentle breeze glide across his face. "Don't you think so too, Cloud?" He asks with a cheerful smile as he opens his eyes and turns around to face his friend. Cloud remains silent in response as he continues sitting in the sidecar of their motorcycle with his eyes closed in a peaceful slumber. After a few seconds, Zack smiles and says in a cheerful voice, "Yeah, I like it here too." Zack looks around at the surrounding palm trees and large mountains as he continues in a cheerful tone, "It reminds me of home."  
Zack takes a deep breath when he's brought back to reality of their current situation. They're here to hide from Shin-Ra for a little while, not to sight see. His cheerful voice changes into a more serious tone as he says, "We'll be relatively safe here," Zack informs his friend as he continues looking beyond the canyon, hoping that he's right. He turns around and looks at Cloud after he hears him stir in his sleep. Zack holds his hand up some as he quietly tells him, "Cloud, go ahead and sleep." With a deep sigh, Zack looks down before he looks back up at his younger friend and informs him, "I'll keep watch," Zack shakes his head which is followed by a shrug as he continues, "so don't worry."

They stay there for a few more hours until Zack decides that they should leave. He knows better than to linger in one place for too long. "Come on, Cloud. We should probably get going," the former SOLDIER says to him as he walks towards the motorcycle.

"Mngh," Cloud softly moans in a groggy voice.

After he hears Cloud moan, Zack quickly walks up to him. He kneels down beside him and sees that the blonde's eyes are partially open. Gently placing a hand on his friend's shoulder, he asks him in a kind voice, "Cloud?"

Cloud responds with a barely audible moan, "Ungh."

After he realizes that his friend's awake, Zack can't help but give him a big smile. He gently pats Cloud on the shoulder before he replies, "I'm glad to see that you're awake." Zack playfully ruffles Cloud's spiky blonde hair while he asks him with a small chuckle, "How ya feeling sleepyhead?"  
Cloud remains silent in response. 'Did he fall back asleep or something?' Zack thinks to himself as he lowers his head some so that he can see the blonde's face better. 'No, he's still awake,' he answers his own question with that thought when he notices that his friend's eyes are still open. Although Cloud's eyes are opened, Zack also notices that the former infantryman's struggling to keep them opened. Zack gives his friend a warm smile while he gently strokes Cloud's hair before saying, "You still look pretty tired. You can probably use some more rest, okay?" Zack watches as Cloud's chin slowly comes to rest on his chest. As soon as Zack told him that, Cloud almost instantly closed his eyes and fell back asleep. Although it always makes Zack happy when Cloud wakes up, he also wants to make sure that he's getting plenty of rest. Just after Cloud falls back into his peaceful slumber, Zack climbs onto the motorcycle and leaves.

* * *

After driving around for a few hours without any trouble, Zack comes to a sudden stop. "Huh...?" Zack plainly says as he notices the landscape. He climbs off of the motorcycle. "Huh!" He loudly repeats again as he walks towards the cliff in front of him. He turns around and faces Cloud with a big happy smile on his face and cheerfully shouts with some disbelief, "Cloud, this is my hometown!" The ex-SOLDIER turns around so that he's overlooking the cliff with his village below and excitingly raises his arms up in the air as he yells, "This is Gongaga!" Zack stands there for a few minutes and continues gazing down at his village, allowing the warmth of the sun to beam down on his face and exposed arms. After all of this time, he can't believe that he is home. Words can't explain how he feels. He was happy, excited, overjoyed, and anxious all at once. However, he wasn't expecting to come here at all really, he was just driving around and ended up here. It seems like some kind of strange invisible force brought him here, as if he were being led down this way.

Zack quickly sprints over to the motorcycle and makes his way towards his friend. Cloud unconsciously grunts when Zack wraps his arms around him with a big smile, grateful to be back home. He soon lets go of him and climbs back onto their vehicle.

Zack drives down the path and parks next to the mako reactor..well what's left of it. He remains seated on the motorcycle. "Man, what a mess. What the hell happened here?" He asks in disbelief. Zack can't believe it, the mako reactor is in ruins and large chunks of debris is scattered everywhere. 'It looks like it blew up or something,' he thinks to himself, trying to guess what happened.

Zack looks at Cloud and tells him in a kind voice, "Would you like to meet my parents, buddy?" Zack's friend remains asleep and doesn't respond. The ex-SOLDIER gives him a small smile and gently caresses the side of his face before telling him, "Don't worry. My mom and dad will like you." Zack softly chuckles as he continues, "They like just about everybody who's nice." He gets off of the motorcycle and remembers something, 'Wait, Shin-Ra knows where I'm from. They have all of that information from when I first joined.' He sighs before saying, "No, I can't go to my house. If I do then I'll probably be walking right into an ambush." Zack turns his head towards Cloud after he makes his decision and orders, "Wait here, I'll be back in a minute." He begins marching towards his village as he tells himself, "I'm just worried about my parents. I wonder if mom's okay. It's risky, but should I go back to town?"

After a few minutes of walking and killing a few monsters along the way, Zack soon makes it to his village. He looks around to make sure that there's no enemy troops..he doesn't see any.

"Behind you!"

Zack's eyes widen in surprise and he instantly turns around after he hears a familiar voice call out. After turning around, he sees that it's Cissnei.

The young Turk is standing about thirty feet away from a couple of houses. She keeps her arms crossed while she speaks in a calm tone, "So predictable...couldn't you guess your hometown would be the first place we'd look?" She continues looking at Zack with her arms still crossed while she continues, "Here to see your parents?"

Zack furrows his eyebrows and places his hands on his hips. "Yeah, so? What's wrong with that?" He tells her, his voice sounding very defensive.

Cissnei lowers her head some before replying, "I see."

Zack removes his hands from his hips and his voice changes into a more calm tone as he tells her, "Yeah, well...I guess you're right. It was pretty careless." Zack swallows a lump in his throat before saying, "We'll be going." Zack can't help but feel sad and worried, he really does want to see his parents to make sure that they're alright. Zack turns around and begins to walk away to leave.

"Be careful," Cissnei warns him in a caring tone. "Security is very tight right now. Apparently...another target is in the area."

Zack stops walking as he listens to her words. He turns around before asking, "Who?"

The young Turk still has her arms crossed. "Angeal."

The ex-SOLDIER nods in understanding before he calmly replies, "I see."

Cissnei looks at him, confused at how calm Zack is acting. 'I heard that he was trained by Angeal. I've also heard that they were close. How could he be so calm?' She thinks to herself. "I see?" She repeats his words, she slightly furrows her eyebrows in confusion as she continues, "He died by your hand. You're not surprised?"

Zack turns his back to her before he informs Cissnei, "I think he may have helped us," he takes a small sigh before continuing, "escape Shin-Ra Manor."

"Hm, interesting. The sighting reports were true," Cissnei says, her voice surprisingly calm.

Zack still has his back to her as he asks, "But why would he come to a place like Gongaga?"

Cissnei slightly smiles at the former SOLDIER before answering, "He came here to see you. What other reason could there be?"

Zack lets out a gasp when he instantly realizes that Shin-Ra may be trying to use him to get to his former mentor too. Zack's eyes widen and his mouth drops open after the sudden realization. He quickly turns around so that he's facing the surrounding mountains as he yells, "Run away if you can, Angeal! The Turks are watching!"

Cissnei stands behind him and warns in a serious voice, "I'll give you ten minutes." Zack turns around and faces her while she continues, "After that...I return to the Turks."

"Return?" He quotes what she said as he looks at her.

Cissnei turns and calmly paces beside him with her arms still crossed. "Right now, I'm not in the mood..." Her voice saddens some as she tells him, "I can't bring bad news to your parents."

Knowing that he won't be able to check on his parents, Zack feels worried, concerned, and sad. He places a hand on his hip before he asks her, "My mom... How is she?" His voice full of worry and concern.

Cissnei smiles at him before answering, "She's worried. She thinks after all this, you won't be able to find a wife."

Zack suddenly feels frustrated. He can't believe that after everything that's going on right now, his parents are worried about him getting married. Zack looks down before asking with a slight frustrated tone, "What's up with that?"

Cissnei gives him a warm smile. "They're nice people, and they're doing fine."

Zack turns his back to her and slightly smiles as he says, "Good. That's all I need to know." Zack closes his eyes, feeling relieved that his parents are unharmed.

Cissnei smiles as she tells him, "Yeah..."

Zack opens his eyes before he turns to face her. "How's your folks?"

"I was raised inside Shin-Ra," she reveals.

Zack scratches his head some, feeling a little awkward of what he's about to ask because him and Cissnei are friends, but yet, she's on his enemies side. "Hey, Cissnei...would you mind...keeping my folks company for a while?"

She gives him a kind smile and tells him, "All right. No problem."

Zack turns around and softly chuckles before joking, "They'll probably ask you to join the family."

Cissnei walks past him and teasingly says, "Already happened."

Zack's eyes widen at her answer. He really wasn't expecting her to say that. "What did you say?" Cissnei doesn't answer and continues walking away. "Cissnei!" He shouts, trying to get her attention.

She continues walking away with her arms crossed as she tells him, "Not my real name. You have five minutes left."

Deciding to heed Cissnei's warning, he decides to go back to Cloud and leave. However, just as Zack's about to leave the area, he notices something. He notices a large white wing sticking out from behind a nearby boulder. "Angeal?" A big smile immediately finds its way on Zack's face and he excitingly shouts, "Angeal! It is you!" Zack watches as the figure quickly flies away. "Hey, wait!" Zack instantly decides to try and follow him. He can use all the help that he can get and he knows that Angeal will help him.

While following the man that he believes is Angeal, Zack soon finds him standing on the edge of a cliff, however, he quickly flies away again. "Hey, wait!" Zack shouts as he reaches his hand towards him. Zack quickly draws his Buster Sword after he's ambushed by Genesis copies.

"S..cells," one of them says with a snarl.

Zack furrows his eyes in frustration because he has no idea what they're talking about. "I don't have any 'S-cells'!" Zack shouts just before they charge at him with their scythe and gun blade drawn. The ex-SOLDIER quickly leaps out of the way which causes one of the copies to crash head first into a nearby tree. He runs behind them and slices one that resembles Genesis across the back with the Buster Sword as he shouts, "Take that!" The injured copy kneels down after the blow before climbing to his feet. Zack quickly turns his head when he hears a loud growl beside him and he lets out a grunt when he suddenly feels a sharp pain across his chest when the second copy hits him. Zack flies about ten feet away before landing hard on the ground on his back. He takes a deep breath as he thinks to himself, 'Man, I forgot how strong these guys are.' He tightens his grip on his sword and quickly climbs to his feet.

He stands his ground as the copies advance towards him and repeatedly mutter, "S..cells...S..cells..."

The copy who resembles Genesis aims his gun blade at Zack and pulls the trigger. However, Zack quickly leaps over their heads and impales him in the back with the Buster Sword. The second copy snarls and lets out a loud menacing growl in response to the death of his comrade. He holds up his scythe and charges at the ex-SOLDIER. Zack immediately rolls out of the way and shoots hell firaga materia at the copy. The Genesis copy falls to his knees and leans on his scythe after the powerful blow. The former SOLDIER 1st Class immediately runs up to him and slices him across the chest which causes the final copy to fall over as he dies.

Before Zack gets a chance to put his sword away, two more copies jump down in front of him and hold up their scythes as they repeatedly mutter the same words as the previous copies, "S..cells...S..cells."

Zack keeps his sword drawn and pointed at them as he gets in his fighting stance, ready to fight them if necessary.

Zack looks up when he hears a voice call out, "His cells are completely useless!"

Both of the Genesis copies immediately back off and keep their distance after hearing one of their masters statement. Hollander and Genesis fly down and land in front of him.

Hollander looks at Zack as he says to him, "You are a former member of SOLDIER. Your cellular structure has already mutated."

"Hollander, you did it..to yourself," Zack replies in disbelief because he's surprised to see that the scientist is now a degrading Genesis copy.

"Yes, after nearly being killed by Genesis. It was really all I could do to survive." Hollander looks down before he continues, "I merely borrowed some cells from Genesis..."

Zack points at him as he tells the former scientist, "You know you're..degrading."

Hollander looks up at him and tells him, "Indeed, but there is still some hope..."

Zack's not sure where this conversation is going and he can't help but furrow his eyes in annoyance when he hears both of the Genesis copies repetitively repeat behind him, "S..cells...S..cells."

Genesis stands beside Hollander and holds up a Banora White apple and says, "The gift of the goddess...A pure S-cell sample will stop the degradation process."

Zack asks, "Pure?"

Genesis looks at Zack as he begins to explain, "There are...two of you, on the run."

Zack takes a few steps back and shakes his head as the realization of what they're implying sinks in. "Uh...no."

Genesis knows that Zack was attempting to unsuccessfully lie to him in order to cover for his friend. The former SOLDIER in red adds, "One is a former SOLDIER operative. The other, an infantryman."

Hollander makes a fist as he says, "That infantryman carries within his body the last pure S-cells in the world!"

"Hey!" Zack shouts when Hollander and both of the Genesis copies fly away to look for Cloud. Genesis stretches his arm in front of Zack to stop him from following them as he asks him, "Do you know the verse in Act IV that leads into the final act?"

Zack glares at him and answers in a frustrated tone, "Of course not!"

Genesis walks around Zack as he quotes, "Legend shall speak of sacrifice at world's end. The wind sails over the water's surface. Quietly, but surely."

Zack turns to face him and tells him, "Enough about sacrifices and endings! I don't want to hear it!"

Genesis stands in front of him and replies, "You don't understand the beauty of these words. How tragic..." He begins walking in front of Zack as he adds, "I'm not surprised. Even I didn't understand all of it." Zack continues glaring at Genesis as he continues, "The greatest mystery behind the gift of the goddess...The water's surface...And the answer I have arrived at, is the Lifestream."

"What?"

"There are various theories regarding the missing final act. However, only my theory is correct." He holds up his Banora White apple as he adds, "And I will prove it to you."

Zack continues glaring at him as he replies, "No. That won't be necessary!" He quickly leaps at Genesis, however, the former SOLDIER in red flies away which causes Zack to get nothing but only the Banora White apple instead.

He watches as Genesis flies away and tells him, "You will understand."

"Cloud's in danger! I have to get back to the reactor! Run like you mean it, Zack!" The former SOLDIER orders himself as he begins to hastily make his way back to his helpless friend. 'There's no way in Hell that I'm gonna let anyone steal my best friend away from me,' he thinks to himself as he runs faster. While racing back to Cloud's location, Zack can't help but feel like a young and desperate father attempting to rescue his young son from being abducted. Of course, Zack knows that Cloud isn't a child. However, with the blonde's current condition and their present situation, that's how Zack feels at the moment.

Zack soon makes it back to Cloud. However, he sees that Hollander has gotten there before him. "Cloud, run!" He yells when he sees the scientist reach for his unconscious friend. Zack isn't sure why he yelled for Cloud to run when he can't. The former SOLDIER dashes over towards Hollander, however, while he's running he sees a large white figure fly past him. After the figure lands, Zack's grateful to see that it's Angeal. Genesis is no where to be seen, but two Genesis copies join in the fight when they land to aid Hollander. Angeal pushes down one of the Genesis copies as he begins to walk towards Zack. Angeal grunts when he's suddenly hit and knocked down by Hollander.

"Why, you!" Zack yells in an angry tone as he stands in his fighting stance, ready to attack.

Hollander manages to run past him, Zack runs up to him and shouts, "I'll do whatever it takes!" He unsheathes his Buster Sword and fights Hollander once and for all. The fight doesn't last long and Hollander soon begins to join the Lifestream before he even falls over.

Now that Hollander's dead, Zack sheathes his Buster Sword before he races over to check on Cloud and Angeal.

"It's been a long time, Zack," Angeal tells him while he sits down and leans up against a ruined concrete wall.

Zack can't help but give the man a big cheerful smile. After all of this time, he can't believe that he is face to face with his mentor and friend. "So what happened? That thing wasn't so tough."

Angeal responds with a sigh before answering, "I can't fight like a 1st."

Zack slightly furrows his eyebrows in confusion. Can't fight like a 1st? What's Angeal talking about? Angeal, along with Sephiroth, trained Zack. Angeal was a SOLDIER 1st Class too.

"I'm just an Angeal copy," the man reveals. He climbs to his feet and gives Zack a small smile before continuing, "It's Lazard."

Zack is surprised to find out that this man isn't Angeal, but is in fact Lazard, the former Director of SOLDIER. The ex-SOLDIER is glad to see Lazard, but he really did believe that he was Angeal because he looks just like him, except for the outfit and white hair. After explaining things to Zack, the ex-SOLDIER asks him, "Why would you do such a thing?"

"To exact my revenge, I needed Hollander."

Zack stands beside him and asks, "You really chose to trust the wrong friends, didn't you?"

Lazard looks down and answers, "I agree." He looks back up and sighs before he continues, "I never dreamed I'd be turned into an Angeal copy." He turns his head some and says, "It's a strange feeling..."

Zack looks down at him and asks, "Hm?"

Lazard holds out his hand and looks down as he tells him, "The lust for vengeance that had so consumed my life is all but gone now. In its place is a desire to help you. A desire to save Genesis." He briefly thinks about his feelings and adds, "No, it's bigger than that. I...I want to save the world."

Zack marches in front of him and unsheathes the Buster Sword. He turns to face him and tells him, "Nothing strange about that." He briefly holds the Buster Sword up in the air and adds, "Angeal lives inside you."

"Genesis is trying to obtain the 'gift of the goddess,' but what is it exactly?" When Zack remains quiet in response, he adds, "No, whatever it is he must be stopped."

Zack sheathes his sword and lets out a sigh before he replies, "I just don't understand what he's talking about at all. What should I do?"

Lazard smiles at Zack while telling him, "Angeal may show us the way...perhaps."

"Maybe... I hope so, Director."

"Heh, 'Director'... So Zack, what is your dream?"

"Huh? Oh, let's see..." Zack holds his hand up to his chin for a few seconds before remembering. "To become a hero!" He proudly answers as he stands up straight with a big smile on his face.

The former Director can't help but smile at Zack's answer. He remembers when Zack told him those exact same words when they first met. Lazard smiles even more when he remembers that Zack was a young sixteen year old boy at that time, and yet his dream remains exactly the same almost seven years later. The former Director softly chuckles and replies, "Humph, unattainable dreams are the best kind."

The ex-SOLDIER kneels down in front of him some while he responds, "Oh, come on! Lend me a hand! You and Angeal both. If we pull this off, we'll all be heroes!" Zack stands up straight again while he continues, "At the very least, I'd feel like one!"

Lazard can't help but admire the strong sense of honor and loyalty that Zack's always had. "So Zack, where is Genesis?"

Zack looks down at the Banora White apple that he's holding in his hand that he got from his encounter with Genesis. He lets out a surprised gasp when he suddenly realizes where the former SOLDIER in red is located. 'The apple is the answer. He has to be in Banora,' he thinks to himself before he holds up the apple to Lazard.

Lazard immediately understands as he tells him, "I see."

"Well, we should get going," Zack tells the older man as they start to walk to the motorcycle where Cloud's resting.

"Is that Private Strife?" Lazard asks Zack as he notices Cloud.

Zack raises an eyebrow as he looks over at Lazard and asks him, "You know him?"

The Director's voice becomes tinged with concern as he answers, "Yeah, he used to come by my office and ask me about the SOLDIER exams. Is he injured or something?"

Zack lowers his head some before answering, "It's a long story." He sighs and tells him, "I'll tell you about it on the way to Banora, Director." They soon leave for Banora.

* * *

"It's so different now," Zack states with a sigh as he looks around the terrain of what used to be the village of Banora. Now, it's the ruins of Banora. Zack looks down the huge hole that's inches from his feet. 'Phew, man that's a long way down,' he thinks. The former SOLDIER continues looking out at the landscape in front of him. He soon hears Lazard soar across the sky and land behind him. "Would you mind watching over Cloud for me?"

"Certainly," Director Lazard answers while he holds his side. Like Genesis, he is degrading...and slowly dying.

Zack turns his head when he sees something glowing bright green in the distance. "What's that?" After a few seconds, he realizes that it's the Lifestream. Zack sighs when he remembers that he needs to hurry up and find Genesis. He doesn't intend to fight him unless he has to. He just wants to try and help him.  
However, before Zack leaves, he decides to check on Cloud. The ex-SOLDIER marches over to his younger friend and gently places his gloved hand on the side of Cloud's face.

Cloud keeps his eyes closed and weakly leans his face into Zack's hand as he moans, "Ngh...Ughh."

Zack kindly smiles down at him and replies in a tender voice, "Wait here, Cloud, all right? I'll be right back."

During the past few days that he's been with them, Lazard would watch their interactions together. He knows that they're very close and that Zack is highly protective of the blonde. "Don't worry about Cloud. I promise I'll protect him," he reassures the former SOLDIER when Zack walks towards him. Zack smiles at Lazard and nods his head in response. "Zack, you have to stop Genesis. With Angeal and Sephiroth gone, you're the only one who can."

"Yes, sir," Zack replies as he begins to march towards the underground caves where Genesis is waiting.

About an hour after Zack leaves, Lazard nervously looks around. 'Hmm, I thought I heard something,' he thinks to himself. He knows that they're being hunted down by Shin-Ra and he's starting to feel a little uncomfortable. 'Maybe we should go somewhere that's not so close to that path,' he thinks as he looks at the pathway that Zack drove down to get here. Lazard staggers his way towards the sidecar of the motorcycle where Cloud is. Due to his weak condition from degradation, Lazard suddenly loses his balance. He grunts when he manages to grab a hold of the side of the sidecar that's attached to the motorcycle. "Hey, Cloud."

Cloud weakly groans when he feels something shake him on the shoulder. The former infantryman partially opens his eyes to see a man with white hair looking down at him with a kind smile. Cloud isn't alarmed at all because he's heard Zack talk to this man and call him 'Director Lazard'. Therefore, Cloud knows who he is.

"Come on, Cloud," Lazard grunts when he manages to pull him out of the sidecar in an attempt to half-carry him somewhere safer until Zack comes back. Cloud's so tired and weak that his legs immediately goes limp when Lazard stands him up, causing him to collapse. However, Lazard quickly grips the sidecar so that they won't fall to the ground. "Take it easy. Can you walk?" He pants. Of course Lazard knows that Cloud can't walk on his own, he needs help. What he meant was if he can take steps on his own while he supports him. Lazard looks at him before telling him in a gentle voice, "We'll take it slow, okay?" Cloud softly grunts in response. The former Director tells him, "Yeah, I'm not really feeling the greatest either."

Lazard smiles at him when he sees Cloud beginning to take small steps. The older man softly smiles as he encourages, "That's it. Good work, soldier." Without warning, Cloud suddenly stops walking. "What's wrong?" The former Director asks in a concerned tone. 'Hm, maybe he twisted his ankle or something,' he thinks as he looks at the blonde. "Hey, did you hurt your foot or something?" Cloud remains silent in response. 'I think that Zack's a lot better at guessing what he needs or wants than what I am. If Zack was here, he'd probably know what's wrong with him.' Lazard watches Cloud's eyes slowly look down the trail where Zack went. Lazard's eyes slightly widen in understanding as he thinks, 'Oh, he's worried about Zack.' Lazard gives him a comforting smile as he assures him, "Zack's okay. He's very strong and tough." He takes a step, hoping that Cloud will continue walking. However, Cloud doesn't even budge, he just continues gazing down the same path where Zack went.

"It's okay, Zack's.." he suddenly gets interrupted when something flies past them and hits a tree beside him. It doesn't take him long to realize that it was a bullet. Lazard gasps as he sharply turns his head to see a small group of Shin-Ra troops running towards them from behind. His eyes widen when he sees them aim their guns at them and pull the trigger. Lazard cries out in agony when he suddenly feels a sharp pain in his back as he purposely falls to the ground, pulling Cloud down with him so that they won't get shot. Lazard quickly grabs Cloud and tries to climb back to his feet, but his back hurts so much that he's unable to. He soon hears fast paced footsteps behind them. He turns around to see that the troops are now standing right in front of them with their assault rifles pointed at them again. The Angeal copy glares up at them as he positions himself in front of Cloud, doing his best to try and shield him.

Thinking that this may be the end, Lazard tightly closes his eyes. He waits for a few seconds, but instead of hearing gunfire, he hears snarling and growling that is followed by frightened and pained screams. Lazard opens his eyes to see a wolf-like creature biting and clawing the troops. He manages to catch a glimpse of Angeal's face on the neck of the creature, revealing that he's also an Angeal copy. Lazard almost instantly takes this opportunity to get Cloud to a safer place so that he won't get hurt. He's very determined to protect Cloud because he wants to keep his promise to Zack. He grunts in pain as he manages to climb to his feet and grab Cloud. He staggers up a hill where he comes across a nearby log that's lying on the ground. He tries to gently lay the blonde down behind it, but instead he accidently drops him behind it. "Sorry. Wait here, Cloud," he slowly orders with a weak grunt. He positions the former infantryman so that he's lying on his back before he continues, "Don't worry. I'll be back soon, Strife." Lazard isn't sure if Cloud heard him or not because his eyes are closed. Before he gets up to help the other Angeal copy, his back hurts so much that he reaches behind him. He grunts in pain and his face twists in agony when he places his hand where it hurts at. He gasps when he looks down at his hand and sees that it's covered in blood. 'They shot me,' he thinks to himself as he glares over at the infantrymen, who's still getting defeated by the other Angeal copy.  
Lazard manages to climb to his feet and stagger towards the battle to aid the other Angeal copy. After a flurry of punches and kicks from Lazard, as well as biting and clawing from his new companion, they soon take out the trio of troops.

Already weak from degrading and blood loss, Lazard weakly grunts when he collapses to the ground. He lifts his head up some when he feels something gently nudge him in the arm, he sees that it's the other Angeal copy. His eyes widen some now that he's able to take a closer look at him. 'He's degrading too,' he thinks with a saddened sigh. Lazard can feel himself dying, and he knows that it's only a matter of time before they both join the Lifestream. The former Director manages to sit up and face his animal-like companion. He smiles at him and gratefully says, "Thank you so much for the help." His companion looks up at him and whimpers in response.

"Oh, I have to check on Cloud and make sure that he's okay," he slowly says in a weak voice. He manages to climb to his feet and slowly make his way back to Zack's friend. He finds Cloud right where he'd left him. After he checks him for injuries, he tells the uninjured young blonde, "Well Strife, I'm glad to see that you're not hurt." Lazard looks up to see a wooden chair sitting under a Banora White tree just a few feet away. 'Hm, that will be a good place to wait for Zack,' he thinks to himself.

Cloud softly moans when he suddenly feels something wrap around his chest from behind. He manages to slowly open his eyes to see his feet dragging along the ground. With his chin resting on his chest, he's able to see who's arms they are and he realizes that it's Lazard. Feeling really tired, Cloud soon closes his eyes again and falls back asleep.

While transporting Cloud to the chair, Lazard feels his own blood streaming and trickling down his back and soaking the back of his shirt. All of this physical activity causes him to grunt in pain from his bullet wound. After hearing his pained grunts, the other Angeal copy soon walks over and gently grabs the lower leg of Cloud's pants with his teeth. Lazard kindly smiles down at him before he tells him, "Oh, you want to help?" He continues smiling down at him as he continues, "That's very kind of you."  
They make it to the chair and Lazard lets out another pained grunt when he sits Cloud down on the chair. He watches the other Angeal copy curl up beside the Banora White tree. Lazard can't help but sigh in relief as he instantly sinks down to the ground and props himself up against the side of the chair that Cloud's sitting on. "Whew man, Strife. Zack said that you're light, but I think that you're actually kinda heavy." He softly chuckles before continuing with a small joke, "Maybe it's from all of that strawberry yogurt that Zack gave you when we were in that town yesterday."

Lazard watches in awe when he sees the sun starting to rise. He greets the sun with a warm and hopeful smile. He has a feeling that this may be the last sunrise that he may ever see, so he decides to enjoy the beautiful sight. Although, he knows that him and their new ally will die and join the Lifestream soon, he is still very hopeful because he believes that Zack and Cloud will survive.  
Lazard slightly turns his head some when he hears footsteps approaching them. He relaxes when he sees that it's Zack with an unconscious Genesis slung over his left shoulder. Lazard also feels relieved to see that Genesis is no longer degrading.

"Shin-Ra attacked us," Lazard informs Zack as he kneels down beside him.

Zack gives him a concerned look before he orders in a serious tone, "Save your strength."

Lazard grunts and points his finger in front of him while he slowly says in a weak voice that's barely above a whisper, "I got some help...from him...over there."

Zack looks in the direction that Lazard pointed in. He quickly stands up and walks up to the wolf-like creature and when he gets a closer look at him, he gasps, "It's you..." The ex-SOLDIER instantly recognizes him as the same Angeal copy that was protecting Aerith just before he left for Nibelhiem. Zack places his hand over his mouth and begins to cry when he realizes that the Angeal copy is now dead from degradation. A wave of sadness washes over the former SOLDIER because he believes that this Angeal copy was being controlled by his dearly departed mentor from the Lifestream.

Zack quickly runs over and kneels down in front of Director Lazard when he hears him take his last breath and his hand falls off of his knee and onto the ground. "Director!" He shouts just before he realizes that he's dead too. Zack punches the ground in frustration. He hates it when the good ones in this world die like this. Zack suddenly feels like he no longer has any physical connection to Angeal now that Lazard and the other copy is dead. The only physical connection that he has to Angeal now is the Buster Sword. Zack stands up straight and looks down at Lazard with a saddened expression on his face. He struggles to hold back his tears as he sadly tells him, "Thank you."

After a few minutes, the ex-SOLDIER decides to do something to honor Genesis. After he first entered the caves where Genesis was at before he fought him, he found Genesis's journal. The journal read that it's Genesis's dream in life to share one of his apples with Sephiroth. Since Sephiroth isn't here and him and Cloud now have Sephiroth's cells in them due to Hojo's experiments, Zack decides to take Sephiroth's place in fulfilling his dream. Since him and Cloud aren't Sephiroth, Zack can only hope that Genesis accepts this. He sees a Banora White tree just a few feet away, so he leaves to go and retrieve an apple for each of them. He soon returns and gives an apple to Genesis, Cloud, and himself.

Zack stands in front of Cloud and Genesis as he holds his apple up with a smile before he says, "Okay, let's eat!"  
He looks down at Genesis, who's propped up against the side of Cloud's chair and tells him, "Sorry I'm not the real thing, but..." Zack takes a bite of the delicious apple. "Mm."

"Is it good?" Zack hears a familiar voice ask him. When he looks down, he realizes that it's Genesis talking to him.

A gasp escapes from Zack's lips. He didn't know that the former SOLDIER in red was awake. "Yeah," he answers.

"The gift," Genesis takes a deep breath before continuing, "of the goddess."

Not fully understanding what he means, Zack holds up his apple while he asks, "This apple?" He looks down at Genesis when he sees him shake his head.

Believing that Lazard is Angeal, Genesis slightly turns his head some before saying, "Angeal, the dream," he lets out a relieved sigh before he continues, "came true."

Zack lets out a small gasp of surprise when he sees Lazard's body begin to join the Lifestream. It seems like the Lifestream was waiting to take Lazard until after Genesis's dream has been fulfilled.  
Zack looks at the animal-like Angeal copy to see that the Lifestream is taking him too. After the Angeal copy fully vanishes, Zack notices something lying on the ground in the Angeal copy's place. After he picks it up, he realizes that it's a letter from Aerith. Zack warmly smiles as he picks it up and begins to read it. While he reads it, he can't help but remember his cherished memories of Aerith.

How are you? I wish I knew where you were.  
It's already been four years now.  
This is the 89th letter that I've sent to you, but I don't even know where to send them anymore.  
I really hope that this final letter that I'm writing gets to you.  
By the way, the flowers are selling very well. They make everyone so happy.  
Thanks to you, Zack.  
Aerith.

Zack drops his apple as his eyes suddenly widen in surprise after he reads it. The sudden realization comes rushing in on him as he thinks out loud, "Four years?" He tilts his head back and gazes at the sky as he yells, "What do you mean 'final'!" Zack takes a deep breath before he sadly says, "Aerith, wait for me."  
Zack quickly marches over to Cloud and tosses him over his shoulder. After he lifts him up, he orders to both Cloud and Genesis, "You're gonna make it, too. You got that?" Zack takes a few steps before turning his head and looks at Genesis. He gives the ex-SOLDIER in red a simple nod before he turns back around and continues walking. After reading that letter, Zack feels even more determined to return to Midgar. He refuses to let Shin-Ra keep them apart forever. Zack sighs when he thinks, 'Four years...has it really been that long? Have we been in the lab for that long? They've stolen four years away from us.'  
They soon make it to the motorcycle and leave to continue on their journey towards Midgar.

**Okay, Chapter 6. Hope you all like it and I also have Chapters 7 and 8 posted. I decided to post them on the same day that I posted this Chapter. Anyways, please feel free to leave a review/comment. I also hope that you all enjoy the next chapters as well.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 or any of the FF7 characters. FF7 and the FF7 characters rightfully belongs to Square-Enix. I own nothing.**

**Alright, Chapter 7. I hope that you guys like this chapter. Most of it is a flashback/dream that Cloud's having. The flashback/dream part is at the very beginning and it's in italics. There's also the Cloud/Tifa pairing in this chapter. Oh, and this chapter also ends kinda open too, but it'll pick right up in the next chapter. Anyways, please feel free to leave a review/comment to let me know what you all think. Reviews/comments are always appreciated.**

**On the Run for Freedom**

**Chapter 7**

_In the small mountain village of Nibelheim, inside the inn, Cloud was upstairs in the bedroom looking out the window. His eyes widened as he watched Tifa outside walk past one of the houses. He continued gazing out the window, unable to take his eyes off of her. The infantryman pressed his hand on the wall next to the window when he saw her hair blow in the wind. The blonde remained in his trance as he took a deep sigh and said, "She's so beautiful."_

_"Yeah, she is really pretty," a familiar voice said behind him with a chuckle._

_Cloud's eyes instantly widened in surprise as he quickly turned around. As he turned around, he nearly fell back into the wall. He saw Zack standing in front of him, smiling. Cloud's face turned red with embarassement, he had no idea that someone was behind him. He didn't want anyone to know about his long time crush on Tifa.  
However, Zack already suspected that after they went up to the mako reactor. Cloud got injured during the mission, so Zack and Tifa brought him back here to recover. Zack was watching out for him while he was unconscious. After he woke up, the older man asked him if he knew Tifa. Zack suspected right then because he thought that the infantryman was acting so strange after he asked him that. Zack thought that Cloud was going to die of embarassement or something. During that time, Zack also discovered that Cloud looked up to him as a hero. Cloud told Zack that he's never seen him use the Buster Sword. When Cloud said that, Zack instantly remembered when he said the exact same words to Angeal a couple of years ago. _

_Cloud still felt really embarassed at Zack's sudden intrusion, he really hoped that Zack didn't know that he likes Tifa. Cloud looked up at Zack with his eyes wide and his mouth dropped open. The blonde had both of his arms stretched out and was up against the wall. His whole terrified looking expression started to make Zack feel a little uncomfortable. _

_"Sheesh, I'm not that hideous am I?" Zack asked with a small smile._

_Cloud quickly managed to snap out of it and stood up straight. "Um, no sir!" He answered nervously in a shaky voice._

_"Okay." Zack gave his friend a cheerful smile. "Oh hey," Zack reached into his pocket and held up his cell phone before continuing, "I got your text message." He put his phone back in his pocket before excitingly saying, "So come on, let's go to your mom's house!" Zack grabbed Cloud's wrist to try and lead him out of the room, however Cloud pulled away and managed to get out of the SOLDIER's grip. _

_"No, I can't." He shyly looked down at the wooden floor._

_Zack's smile faded away. "Why not?"_

_Cloud continued looking down at the floor. "I changed my mind."_

_Zack placed his hands on his hips and said with a disappointed sigh, "You mean that you're not going to visit your mother?"_

_While still looking down at the floor, Cloud shook his head._

_Zack couldn't fully understand why Cloud had suddenly changed his mind. He really hated the idea of Cloud not visiting his mother at all while they were there. Zack quickly thought of a way to try and change his friend's mind. With a big smile on his face, Zack replied, "Oh, come on Cloud. Visiting your mom ain't gonna be bad. As soon as she sees you, she'll run up to you and give you a big hug, like this." Zack suddenly marched up to Cloud, wrapped his arms around his waist, and picked him up. Zack now held onto him to where Cloud's arms were trapped at his sides and his feet was a few inches off of the floor. _

_"Hey Zack, put me down," the infantryman ordered in a surprised tone. He grunted as he struggled futily to try and squirm out of Zack's grip._

_Zack ignored him. "Then she'll drown you with kisses, which I will not do. I'll leave that up to her," he joked with a loud chuckle._

_Cloud stopped squirming as he smiled at his friend's words, trying not to laugh. "I mean it, put me down."_

_"Then finally, she'll ask you a lot of questions like," Zack briefly paused and changed his voice to try and sound like a woman, "Oh Cloud! It's been two long years since I've last seen you. Why haven't you written me any letters? Why haven't you came to visit?" _

_Cloud couldn't help but laugh at Zack's mother impersonation. Through his laughter he told him, "Zack stop it."_

_Zack ignored him again and continued talking in a feminine sounding voice, "What do you have to say for yourself young man?"_

_Personally, Cloud liked it when Zack would goof off and play around with him. Although Zack is his commanding officer, it reminded him that they're best friends too. Cloud's face started to turn red from laughing so much. Cloud managed to stop laughing long enough to give Zack a big smile and answer in a playful tone, "Zack, go be stupid somewhere else." _

_Zack looked up at Cloud with wide eyes and gasped at his answer. He continued talking in a feminine sounding voice as he loudly replied, "Cloud Strife! That's no way to speak to your mother young man. Why, I have every right to turn you over my knee and paddle your backside!" _

_Just as Zack said the last part, Sephiroth walked in. The general gave the two young men a strange look, confused at the whole scene. Zack and Cloud's eyes widened in surprise when they turned their heads and saw him standing in the doorway. _

_"I knew I should've went with that group of Seconds to Fort Condor," Sephiroth said with a sigh._

_"Hey, isn't that where Kunsel went?" Zack asked as he continued looking over at Sephiroth._

_"Yes Zack. Anyways, I should've went with them because whenever you two are together you're enough to make anyone go insane," the general replied._

_'Hm, he must be in one of those moods,' Zack thought to himself._

_Sephiroth walked towards a nearby wooden table as he told them, "Don't mind me, I'm just here to get my water bottle. You two carry on whatever it was that you were doing," Sephiroth calmy ordered._

_"Um, we're just playing around," Zack explained, trying to sound serious. He was doing his best to not burst out in laughter at the whole situation._

_"Fascinating," Sephiroth replied in his usual calm and serious tone. He obviously didn't really seem to care what they were doing as long as it didn't involve him. "I'm going back to the Shin-Ra mansion, so don't bother me." He looked at Cloud, who's face was red with shyness and embarrasement and said, "Zack will be in charge until I get back." He soon left after he grabbed his half filled plastic water bottle off of a nearby table. After the general left the room, Zack couldn't help but softly chuckle when he thought that he heard Sephiroth call them 'strange' or 'weird'. _

_Cloud let out a sigh as he roughly planted his forehead on Zack's shoulder and in a dissapointed tone, he told him, "Great job Zack. Now the general probably thinks that we're messed up in the head or something."_

_"Do you want to see your mom yet?" Zack quickly asked him. Almost like he didn't hear what his younger friend said._

_"No, I want too. I..I just..." Cloud was unsure of what to say._

_With his arms still wrapped around his friend, the SOLDIER carried him over to a nearby bed and plopped him down. Zack sat down on the bed next to him. "So, you still don't wanna see your mom?" Zack asked in a voice that sounded almost disappointed._

_"No," Cloud answered plainly._

_Zack suddenly looked at him with a sly smile. "Is that your final answer?"_

_Cloud looked down at his hands and nodded his head in response._

_Suddenly, before Cloud even had a chance to act, Zack quickly jumped to his feet and playfully pushed him down on the bed._

_Cloud quickly sat back up and asked in a confused tone, "Hey! What are you..?" Cloud didn't even get a chance to finish the rest of his question. Zack didn't waste any time and began tickling him, going for the blonde's chest, stomach, and ribs._

_Cloud fell back on the bed and bursts out laughing as Zack mercilessly continued his tickle assualt._

_"No, Zack!" Cloud shouted through his endless laughter as Zack continued tickling him. "Don't!" He shouted again as he brought his knees up close to him in a futile attempt to shield himself._

_Zack joined in on the laughter and replied loud enough for Cloud to hear him, "I'm not stopping until you decide to go to your mom's house."_

_Cloud's face started to turn bright red from laughing too hard. "Can't!" He managed to shout through his laughs._

_Zack smiled down at him and asked, "Can't or won't?"_

_Cloud didn't answer, instead he tried to roll over on his stomach to try and shield himself again. However, Zack quickly flipped him back over and continued tickling him._

_"Is it a 'yes' yet?" He asked with a big grin on his face. __Zack laughed at him when he heard Cloud suddenly let out a high pitched laugh. After hearing that, he joked, __"And squealing like a little girl isn't an answer."_

_Cloud couldn't take it anymore. His face was bright red and his insides felt like they're about to burst from laughing way too much. He finally submitted as he shouted, "Okay, okay, okay!"_

_Zack suddenly stopped tickling him and sat back down on the bed next to him. Cloud remained lying on his back, trying to catch his breath as he's finally able to stop laughing. Zack looked down at him and smiled, "So, that's a yeah?"_

_Cloud nodded his head. His face started to return to its original color._

_"Alright, now come on. We don't have time for anymore dilly dally. Let's go," he said in a cheerful voice as he grabbed Cloud around the wrist and helped him get up. Before they left, Cloud jogged over to the round wooden table in the center of the room and grabbed his helmet. He quickly put it on as he followed Zack out the door and down the stairs._

_As they started going towards his mom's house, Cloud started to feel uncomfortable. "I don't know about this Zack. I mean, I um, I never made SOLDIER," he looked down at the ground and stated in a saddened tone, "she's going to be so dissapointed with me."_

_Zack looked over at him. "No she's not. I think that she'll be really thrilled to see you."_

_Cloud kept his eyes on the ground and replied, "But I promised her that I'd be in SOLDIER and I'm not," Zack placed his arm across Cloud's shoulder as his friend sadly said just above a whisper, "I failed."_

_Zack slightly raised an eyebrow and answered in a firm tone, "Hey, don't talk like that. You're still in training, remember?"_

_They soon reached Cloud's house, after he gazed up at his small white house with wooden trimming, the blonde shyly turned around in an attempt to leave. However, Zack stopped him by stepping in front of him and placed both of his hands on Cloud's shoulders._

_The infantryman grabbed Zack's arms, trying to get out of Zack's grip so that he could go back to the inn. "I'm sorry, I can't do this Zack."_

_"Come on man. You can't come to your hometown without seeing your mom. I mean seriously, you haven't seen her in two years."_

_Cloud stopped struggling and swallowed hard as he listened to his friend's words. He really does miss his mother, and he would've felt terrible if he didn't visit her at least once while he was there. Unable to meet Zack's eyes, the young blonde revealed in a shaky voice, "I want to see her, but I can't let her see me like this." _

_Zack looked down at him as he answered, "Don't worry buddy, I got your back. I doubt that she'll be mad at you just because you're not in SOLDIER. I mean, you were a fourteen year-old boy when you promised her that, right?" Zack slightly tilted his head some in an attempt to try and see his younger friend's face, which was being halfway hidden by his helmet. Zack managed to see some of Cloud's face and noticed that he's blushing. The SOLDIER knew Cloud long enough to know the answer why his face was red. His face was red because he was feeling nervous. With a comforting smile, Zack stated, "Trust me. She's going to be really happy to see you. I know she will." _

_After he took a few deep breaths, Cloud answered, "Alright, you win."_

_Zack gave Cloud a big smile and patted him on the shoulder. "Good."_

_As they turned around, Cloud asked the older man, "Are you still going with me?"_

_Zack let out a small chuckle. "Of course."_

_They soon reached the front door of his house. Cloud took another deep breath as he slowly reached towards the wooden door. Once his hand reached the door, he just rested his hand there._

_After about thirty seconds of just standing there, Zack looked at him and finally said, "Um, Cloud? You just move your hand to.."_

_"I know how to knock on a door," Cloud interrupted him in a slightly annoyed tone._

_Zack raised his hands up in defense. "Okay, okay. I'm just sayin'."_

_"Sorry, I'm just..." Cloud nervously apologized._

_"It's okay. Do you want me to knock for ya?"_

_Cloud looked down at the ground and shook his head. After he took a long deep breath, he finally knocked on the door._

_A few seconds later, a woman with blonde hair wearing a pair of green pants, a brown shirt, and a white apron who looked like she's in her mid-thirties opened the door to greet them. She had a surprised and a confused look on her face upon seeing two soldiers at her door. "Hello," she paused for a couple of seconds to think of what else to say, "how may I help you gentlemen?" _

_Zack kindly smiled at her. 'Boy oh boy, you sure can tell that she's Cloud's mom,' he thought to himself. He was a little surprised at seeing how much her and Cloud resembled each other. __"We just want to talk, that's all. May we come in, please?"_

_"Oh, yes of course." The woman moved over more to the side and invited them in._

_After they walked inside, Cloud was a little surprised to see that the interior hasn't changed at all. Everything still looked the same as the day that he'd left to join the army. _

_"So um," Mrs. Strife thought of what to say, "is something wrong?" The last part of the question sounded very worried and concerned. She could feel tears threatening to breach through her eyes when she thought that something bad may have happened to Cloud. She couldn't think of any other reason why these men were here. _

_"No, not at all ma'am." Zack turned his head towards Cloud and smiled, "Someone just wanted to visit you."_

_Since Zack was looking over at the soldier standing next to him, Mrs. Strife also looked over at him._

_Cloud took that as his cue to take off his helmet. So, he slowly raised his hands up to remove it. As he took it off, he stopped about halfway to where he held the helmet in front of his face. After a couple of seconds, he took a deep breath and lowered it to reveal himself to his mother._

_The woman's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Cloud!" Mrs. Strife excitingly shouted with a big smile on her face as she tightly wrapped her arms around her son. "Oh, I've missed you so much," she told him. She gave Cloud a kiss on the cheek, followed by a couple of kisses on his forehead. She soon ended the embrace and gave him a warm smile as she started to get a little teary-eyed._

_The young infantryman smiled back at her. "It's really great to see you too mom." Cloud looked over at the young SOLDIER member standing next to him. "Oh, mom? This is my friend, Zack Fair."_

_Cloud's mother kindly smiled over at Zack and shook his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Fair. My name is Skye Strife."_

_Zack gave her a kind smile and replied, "It's great to meet you too ma'am."_

_"Will you be staying for dinner Mr. Fair? We're having stew."_

_"Yeah sure, stew sounds really good. By the way, you can just call me Zack."_

_"Oh, okay Zack." Skye focused her attention back on Cloud. "You've grown. Come over here so that I can take a better look at you," she ordered in a gentle voice as she grabbed the blonde by the wrist and led him in the center of the room with better lighting.  
Zack let out a small chuckle when he saw Cloud's face turn red at his mother's actions. Once in the center of the room, Cloud's mom walked around him in a full circle. Cloud stood still and allowed his mother to look him over. "You have grown!" She exclaimed with a big smile. "I thought you did, you look taller now." She gently placed her hand on the side of Cloud's face and smiled. "You're so handsome too," with a soft chuckle she added, "I bet that the girls never leave you alone."_

_Cloud's face slightly turned red again as he shyly looked down at the hard-wood floor. "Um, not really."_

_His mother placed her hands on his arms and noticed his Shin-Ra infantryman uniform. Not knowing what kind of uniform that it was, she curiously asked, "Is this a SOLDIER uniform?"_

_Cloud's eyes suddenly widened at her question. He wanted to be honest with her, but he also didn't want to disappoint her. His mind went completely blank all of a sudden and he didn't know what to say, "N-no, it's um.."_

_Zack walked up behind him and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder as he interrupted him, "It's a SOLDIER 3rd Class uniform."_

_Cloud's eyes widened in surprise and his mouth slightly dropped open. 'Did he just...?' He thought to himself. He couldn't believe that Zack just lied for him. He really wasn't expecting that._

_Skye gave her son a cheerful smile. "Really? Oh my, I'm so proud of you Cloud. I knew you'd make it in, you've always been such a good hardworking boy."_

_Zack gave Cloud and his mother a warm smile as he told them in a proud tone, "Your son's a great SOLDIER, ma'am." Cloud and his mom looked over at Zack as he continued, "He's actually one of the best that's ever served under my command, you have every right to be very proud of him."_

_"Aww, that's nice. Thank you, Zack. I'd be proud of him even if he wasn't able to make it in," she said in a sweet voice. "Oh, I have to check on dinner. Both of you boys can make yourselves at home. I'll be back in a minute."_

_"Do you need any help, mom?"_

_"No I got it sweetie." She went into the kitchen to check on the stew._

_Zack and Cloud sat down on a nearby couch in the living room. "Hey Zack?" Cloud asked in a nervous sounding tone._

_"Huh?" Zack asked as he curiously looked around the room._

_"Did you really mean that?" He asked, looking down at his hands, his voice slightly shaky as he spoke._

_"Mean what?" Zack asked._

_Cloud continued looking down as he answered, "That I'm one of your best men?"_

_Zack smiled at him and gently patted him on the shoulder. "Of course I did. Seriously Cloud, have I ever lied to you?"_

_Cloud looked up at him and scratched his arm as he recalled, "Well, there was that one time when you said that my shoe was untied and it really wasn't."_

_Zack let out a small chuckle. "Dude, that was on April Fool's Day. You're suppose to joke around with people on that day."_

_Cloud looked down again. He forgot that incident happened on April Fool's Day. "Oh yeah."_

_Zack smiled at his friend as he said, "Your mom's really nice." Zack chuckled and told him, "She actually kinda reminds me of my mom."_

_The blonde looked up at Zack with a slight smile._

_After a couple of hours, the stew got done cooking. The three of them sat down at the table together to eat._

_"So Zack, where are you from? Were you born in Midgar?" Mrs. Strife asked in a kind voice as she stirred up her bowl of stew with her spoon._

_Zack took a quick sip of some water before he answered, "No ma'am. I was born in a small village called Gongaga."_

_Skye let out a soft chuckle and said, "Gongaga? I like the way the name of your village sounds. It sounds so adorable, like baby talk." She softly chuckled and asked, "What's it like there?"_

_Zack swallowed a mouthful of delicious stew before he answered, "Um, well it's about the size of Nibelhiem here. It's out in the country. It looks kinda jungle like in some areas," Zack suddenly stretched out his arms as he informed, "and there's also a lot of really big mountains."_

_The woman smiled across the wooden table at him. "Oh, that sounds beautiful."_

_After being quiet throughout some of the conversation, Cloud started to scoot his chair out from under the table to leave. "Please excuse me, I'll be back in a couple of minutes," he politely explained as he stood up and began marching towards the bathroom._

_His mother smiled as she called after him, "Okay, hurry back sweetie." After Cloud left the room, Skye looked over at Zack and gratefully said, "Thank you so much for being a good friend to my son, Zack."_

_"Yeah, you're welcome," the SOLDIER answered, unsure where this is going._

_Skye's expression saddened as she explained, "When he was a young boy, before he left here, he never had any friends except for that Tifa girl. All the other kids were always so mean to him. They'd always call him names and start fights with him. Why, one day he came home with a busted lip. I was so furious that I just 'bout had a stroke. He did tell me that he gave the boy a black eye who did that to him."_

_Zack's expression also saddened as he continued listening to the woman's story. He couldn't figure out why the other kids treated Cloud like that. I mean, how can anyone be mean to someone like Cloud?_

_"Back when he was nine, he snuck out of the house and followed little Tifa up Mount Nibel because he didn't want her to get hurt. When she crossed a bridge, the wood broke and she fell through. She was holding onto the bridge trying to climb back up. Cloud ran over there and tried to pull her up." She leaned back in her chair and sighed. "They both fell through, she ended up in a coma-like state for a week."_

_"If you don't mind me asking ma'am, what happened to Cloud?" Zack asked in a sympathetic tone._

_"He got hurt too, not as bad as Tifa. He managed to get away with scarred knees," she sympathetically answered. "After that," she paused to take a deep breath, "Tifa's father thought that it was Cloud's fault for what happened. Other than me and Tifa, everyone in the village blamed Cloud over that. They blamed him so much, that Cloud actually started to believe that it was his fault." She made a fist and lightly pounded on the table as she recalled, "Mr. Lockhart was wrong, I know my son. My Cloud's a sweet boy, he's no trouble maker."_

_"I'm sorry to hear that ma'am."_

_"Please, don't be," she said in a sweet voice._

_Zack looked over at her and slightly raised an eyebrow._

_"I just wanted to let you know that because he's never had much friends. I truly am grateful that he has a friend like you. I can tell that you're a very sweet young man," she told him in a kind motherly sounding voice._

_Zack gave her a kind smile at her statement. "Thank you, ma'am. I'm very grateful too that he's my friend."_

_Mrs. Strife gave Zack a warm smile and told him, "He thinks a lot of you by the way."_

_Unsure of what she meant, he gave her a slight confused look and asked, "Excuse me?"_

_She leaned forward in her chair as she responded, "What I mean is that when he looks at you, he gives you a look like a young boy would an older brother who means everything to him," she revealed with a warm smile._

_Zack didn't know what to say after her statement. He didn't know that Cloud had such a tough childhood. The SOLDIER wished that him and Cloud were from the same village, if so, he would've been his friend back then too. He couldn't help but feel bad for his friend. He already knew that Cloud looked up to him as a hero, but it made him feel good on the inside to hear someone say it._

_With a kind smile on her face, Skye reached over and gently patted Zack on the hand. With pleading eyes, she told him, "Please, be a good friend to my son."_

_Zack returned the smile as he used his free hand to lightly pat her on the hand. With truthful eyes, he looked up at her and promised, "I will, you can trust me ma'am."  
_

* * *

Cloud's dream suddenly fades away and he slowly begins to open his eyes. He looks around through blurred vision, unable to make much of anything out through his groggy eyes. He can feel himself slowly rocking back and forth and he can hear flowing water. After a couple of minutes, his vision starts to clear and he sees a bright blue sky above him. He squints his eyes when he sees the bright light from the sun. It looks like it's the middle of the day because the sun is shining really bright in the middle of the sky. He suddenly feels someone touch his leg. He looks down to see that it's Zack giving him a friendly pat on the shin.

"Hey, welcome back buddy. How ya feeling?" He asks as he smiles down at him.

Cloud remains silent as he looks at him with a tired and dazed look on his face. He sees that Zack has an oar in his hands. He soon realizes that they're in a boat. He figures that they must be navigating through some kind of river. Zack's sitting by the blonde's feet, using a single oar to navigate through the water. Feeling tired and a little nauseous from motion sickness, the blonde starts to close his eyes.

Zack looks down at his friend and notices that he looks a little pale. "Hey?"

Cloud opens his eyes and looks up at Zack.

"You okay?" He pulls off one of his gloves with his teeth and reaches over and gently places his hand on Cloud's forehead. "Hmm, you don't have another fever." Zack removes his hand and puts his glove back on and continues rowing. "You had a fever last night. Scared me." Zack smiles down at him before telling him, "I know that you probably miss our motorcycle. I do too." Zack lets out a sigh and says, "Sadly, during that ambush a couple of days ago an infantryman just felt the urge to throw a grenade at it. Man, good thing that we wasn't in it." Zack looks down and with a disappointed sigh, he states, "That jerk..I liked that motorcycle."  
They've lost all of their supplies in that attack, even their food and water supply. So since then, they've been relying on nature and nearby villages for food and water.

Suddenly without any warning, the river's current becomes a lot stronger. "Hold on, buddy," the ex-SOLDIER orders as he struggles to steer the boat. Waves begin crashing and slamming into the sides of the boat as Zack struggles to steer past some large rocks. However, the water's current is forcing them towards a large amount of jagged rocks that's sticking up out of the water. Knowing that their only chance is to make a swim towards shore, Zack quickly throws down the oar in the boat.  
Glancing over at his friend, Zack notices that he's still awake. Cloud's eyes slightly widen in surprise and confusion when the former SOLDIER suddenly grabs him. "Come on!" Zack orders in a loud voice, trying to talk over the sounds of the crashing waves so that Cloud can hear him. While tightly holding onto his younger friend, Zack urgently plunges them both into the river.

**Okay you all, there's Chapter 7. I know that it ended kinda open, but I promise that Chapter 8 will pick up right where this left off at. Anyways, I hope that you all like it and please feel free to leave a review/comment to tell me what you all think about it. Oh, and just so that you all know, I'm going to end this story with Chapter 10. So, Chapter 10 will be the last chapter for this story. I just thought that I'd let you all know. In this chapter too, I was trying to make Cloud act a little bit kiddish in the flashback scene because he was sixteen on that part when they were in Nibelheim. I was also trying to make Zack and Cloud act very buddy-like in that scene, haha. About Cloud's mother's name, I got her name from Chibipinkbunny. At first I was just going to have her go by 'Mrs. Strife', 'Cloud's mom', and 'Cloud's mother' because I couldn't think of a name for her. But then Chibipinkbunny came to my rescue, haha. She gave me the idea to use 'Skye Strife' instead, and I liked how it sounded. So I decided to use that, thank you so much Chibipinkbunny, I really appreciate your help with that. Oh, and when Zack told Cloud that he got his text message, that was referring to the part in Crisis Core when Cloud sends him a text asking him if he wanted to go to his house with him because he wanted him to try his mom's cooking. He also said in that text that he felt more comfortable if Zack went with him. I really like the close bond that Zack and Cloud have. When it comes to characters that are best friends in video games, they're definitely my favorite. Anyways, I hope that you all like this chapter and I did have a lot of fun writing it.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own FF7 or any of the FF7 characters. FF7 and the FF7 characters rightfully belongs to Square-Enix. I own nothing.**

**Alright, Chapter 8. I hope that you all like this chapter, it picks up right where the previous chapter left off at. I've also posted Chapters 6, 7, and 8 on the same day. So, those of you who's been keeping up with the story should start out reading Chapter 6 and then 7 and 8, if you want to of course. Please feel free to leave a review/comment to tell me what you all think. Please enjoy.**

**On the Run for Freedom**

**Chapter 8**

A couple of seconds after they plunged into the river out of desperation, they both soon float back up to the surface. Luckilly for both of them, Zack jumped into the part of the river where the current isn't as strong. Zack looks next to him to see Cloud coughing and gasping for air from being under water after their jump. Zack quickly positions himself to where Cloud can rest the back of his head on his shoulder while he keeps them both afloat. The former SOLDIER soon hears a loud crashing sound behind them. He quickly turns his head to see the boat getting destroyed by the large rocks. His eyes widen in disbelief at the sight. The rocks tear into the boat like a can opener tearing into a styrofoam cup, leaving it in tattered pieces. 'Man, thank God that we wasn't in there,' he thinks to himself. He's a little surprised that large rocks and a strong current can obliterate a metal boat like that.  
Turning back around, he sees a large tree log bobbing up and down in the water close to them. "Come on buddy," he says, sniffling. After a few seconds of swimming and making sure to keep his and Cloud's head above the water, they soon make it over to the floating tree log. Zack grabs onto it with one hand and lets out a loud grunt when he pulls Cloud halfway onto it. The former SOLDIER positions Cloud to where he's resting his arms and head on top of the log.  
Zack keeps his free arm wrapped around his friend's back and asks him with a smile, "So Cloud, do you think that we'll ever have a normal day?"  
Cloud looks over at him and manages a small smile. Zack looks in front of them and sees that they're only about thirty feet away from shore. "Come on man. We need to get out of this river and onto some land," he states in a serious tone as he positions himself behind Cloud and wraps an arm around his waist, attempting to gently pull him off of the log.  
Cloud does trust Zack with his life, but he feels uncomfortable letting go of the log. Although Cloud's a good swimmer, he knows that he's unable to swim in his current condition. Right now he feels hesitant about letting go of the log because he knows that it's the only way for him to stay afloat on his own.

"Uunnngh," Cloud moans in protest as he tenses up.

Zack continues to try to gently pull him off the floating tree log. He then tries to coax his friend into letting go of the nature made raft as he tells him in a gentle voice, "Don't worry I'm not going to let anything happen to you, I promise."

The blonde whimpers as he obeys Zack and slowly lets go of the log. "It's alright, I've got you. I'm not going to let you go," the ex-SOLDIER promises. Zack senses that Cloud's feeling uncomfortable, so in a gentle tone he tells him, "Just relax." Cloud watches his limp arms slowly slide off of the log and splash back into the water as Zack gently leans Cloud's head back to rest on his shoulder.

After a couple of minutes of swimming towards dry land, a smile finds its way on Zack's face when he feels his feet touch the bottom. "You probably feel a lot better now that we're able to walk instead of swim, don't ya?"  
Cloud remains silent in response. Zack can't help but smile when he feels the water squishing around in his boots with every step that he takes. While walking, Zack nearly trips on something that's hidden in the murky depths of the river. "Whoa, almost tripped on a rock there," he softly chuckles. "Well, I think it was a rock. It felt like one anyways."

They finally make it to the river bank with large rocks littering the ground and tall cypress trees towering towards the bright blue sky. "Alright, we're finally here."  
While they're walking, Zack feels water dripping off of his hair and down his face. The former SOLDIER looks down at his clothes and notices just how soaked they are. He looks over at Cloud and sees that he's just as soaking wet as he is. Cloud's hair is no longer spiked up like it always is. Instead, his hair is completely down from being wet. Zack slightly raises an eyebrow because Cloud looks kind of weird when his hair isn't spiked up. He can't help but softly laugh as he reaches over and playfully ruffles his friend's hair, attempting to make his hair spiky again. Zack gives himself a proud smile when he succeeds at fixing his friend's hair.

* * *

After walking for about an hour, Zack looks up and sees something past several trees in the distance. "What's that?" He asks himself, squinting his eyes. Unable to see exactly what the object is because of all the trees, they continue walking towards it. Once they make it past the tall pine trees a few minutes later, Zack sees that it's an old wooden cabin. "Hey buddy, check that out," he says in a soft voice as he points towards the cabin with his free hand.

They continue walking towards it and they soon make it up to the front porch. The cabin looks completely abandoned. Zack makes that assumption when he sees that there's a few partially busted out windows. There's also no movement inside. Zack looks down at the door handle and notices that there's a chain and a padlock wrapped around it. 'There's obviously no one here,' he thinks to himself as he grabs the chain with his free hand and gives it a quick tug. The now broken steel chain falls to the wooden porch, followed by several smaller parts of steel after Zack easily breaks it in half.  
"Alright man, it looks like we have a place to stay for now," he states in a soft voice as he uses his foot to gently swing the door open. The inside actually looks kind of nice, for an abandoned cabin anyways. There's a large square-shaped table in the center of the room that's surrounded by a few chairs and a couch next to the wall across from the table. All of the furniture is covered with long white sheets, but Zack's able to make out what the objects are by their shape.

While Zack's taking in their surroundings, Cloud opens his mouth wide and lets out a groggy yawn, "Awwgh."

"Alright, I know that means you're tired. Come on, let's go over here." The former SOLDIER smiles as he closes and locks the door behind them. He walks over to the couch and yanks the sheet off of it, causing dust to fly up and float around in the air. "Well," Zack lets out a small cough from the dust, "the couch itself looks pretty good." The ex-SOLDIER drops the sheet on the floor and lays his friend down on the couch to where he's lying down on his side, almost in a fetal position. Zack quickly checks the place to make sure that it's safe. After he goes through all of the rooms, he decides that there's no apparent danger here.  
Due to the time that it took for them to get up here, they're both dry except for their clothes. Although it feels like it's about sixty degrees outside, Zack doesn't want to risk him and Cloud catching a cold. With how much mako that was pumped into them, Zack isn't so sure if they can even catch a common cold. However, he really doesn't want to test that. Looking down at his friend, he states, "We need to get these wet clothes off and into some dry ones." Zack walks over to the table and pulls the white sheet off and drops it on the floor. He unsheathes his Buster Sword and carefully lays it across the wooden table.  
Zack finds it annoying that his shirt keeps sticking to his back and stomach because it's wet, so he unfastens his suspenders and removes his shoulder guards. He lays his shoulder guards and suspenders on the table next to him. He soon pulls his shirt off and rings it out, he watches as several water droplets fall to the floor and mixes in with the dirt, forming small amounts of mud. "Hmm, that's better," he says as he lays his shirt across the table. He pulls his gloves off and lays them on the table next to his other belongings. "Boy, this water in my boots is starting to bug me," he says with a soft grunt as he sits down on a wooden chair next to the table. He quickly removes his boots and socks, after he takes off his socks he puts his boots back on. "Well, that's a little better," he says as he stands up. Since his pants is just a little damp now and not soaked like his shirt, he decides to leave them on.

The former SOLDIER gives his friend a big smile as he stands in front of him and asks, "How do I look?" Cloud just stares at him in response before he slightly turns his head towards the cushion on the couch and closes his eyes. Zack can't help but softly chuckle before he walks over to Cloud. He gently places one hand on his shoulder and the other hand on his hip and rolls him over on his back. "How are you feeling kiddo?" He asks, smiling down at him. Cloud responds with a groggy sounding grunt as he opens his eyes and looks up at him. "Well, you'll probably feel better once we get these wet clothes off of you," he replies as he removes the blonde's gloves and tosses them over on the table. Zack walks over to the end of the couch and lifts Cloud's legs up and sits down, propping the blonde's legs up on his lap. "You know we sure can use a vacation, eh buddy?" Zack asks as he looks over at his younger friend with a smile. Cloud returns the look through half-lidded eyes in response. Zack gently pats his friend on the leg and states, "Well, I think that we both deserve one." He begins to remove Cloud's boots.

"Mngh," the former infantryman softly grunts as he tries to pull his feet away. Although Cloud's movements are very slow and weak, Zack gently wraps an arm around his lower legs, firmly pinning the blonde's legs between his arm, stomach, and lap. A simple tactic that Zack would use when Cloud would sometimes try to pull his feet away like this whenever he would take off his boots. The younger man would never try to kick him or anything, he would just be uncooperative sometimes.

The ex-SOLDIER looks over at him as he says in a soft voice, "First you didn't want to give up the log, now you don't wanna give up your boots and socks." Zack's voice changes into more of a concerned tone as he asks him, "You're being a little bit stubborn today. What's wrong?"

Cloud remains silent in response. Since he's unable to slightly move his legs now, Cloud lays completely still as he stares up at Zack with unblinking eyes and a frustrated glare. The older man understands why Cloud acts like that sometimes. Cloud obviously hates the fact that due to his condition, it's up to his friend to take care of him. The younger man finds the whole thing completely embarrassing, shameful, and humiliating all at once. Although he's unconcious a lot of the time, most of the time whenever he is awake he feels like a prisoner in his own body. He can't help but think that Hojo has imprisoned his soul in his flesh. His condition feels so much more like a curse than a sickness.

"It's alright." Zack gently pats him on the leg and notices that Cloud's pants is almost dry. He smiles at his friend and informs him in a kind voice, "Your pants is just a little damp, so I'll leave your pants on, okay?" The former SOLDIER continues removing Cloud's boots and socks.

Zack places Cloud's boots on the floor and tosses his socks over on the table. The ex-SOLDIER gets up and walks over beside his friend. "Sorry man," the former SOLDIER sympathetically apologizes with a sigh.  
Zack always hates doing this because it's always made him feel bad, but it has to be done. Zack can only imagine how humiliating this must be for Cloud. Cloud gazes up at the large dusty wooden rafters beaming across the ceiling as Zack starts to unfasten and remove his suspenders and shoulder guards. After removing the blonde's shoulder guards and suspenders, Zack starts to remove his shirt.  
The silence starts to make Zack feel uncomfortable, so to break the silence he asks his friend the first thing that came to mind. With a small smile, Zack kindly asks, "Hey buddy, how come you and Tifa never went on a date or anything?" Just as Zack mentioned Tifa, Cloud swallows hard to push down a lump in his throat and his eyes starts to tear up as his heart begins to ache.  
Zack doesn't notice Cloud's reaction and continues talking. "I think that she had a crush on you. Remember when I showed you those text messages that she sent me?" Zack finishes removing the blonde's shirt, he rings it out and tosses it on the table. He gently places Cloud's hands to where they're resting on his stomach. The former SOLDIER's expression saddens when his eyes falls on the scar in the center of Cloud's rib cage near his chest that he got from the battle with Sephiroth. The ex-SOLDIER knows that Cloud also has a matching scar on his back from where Sephiroth's sword exited out of the former infantryman's body. Zack's expression saddens even more when he looks up to see the blonde's eyes slowly close and a single tear roll down his pale face. For some reason, he didn't stop and think about what happened in Nibelhiem and to Tifa before he said that. He suddenly feels terrible, he didn't mean to upset his best friend. Zack gently wipes his friend's tear away with his thumb as he tells him in a compassionate voice, "I'm so sorry, Cloud. I shouldn't have said that." Zack lets out a deep sigh as he sits down on the edge of the couch next to him. "I don't know what I was thinking." Cloud opens his eyes when he feels Zack gently grab him and give him a hug. "You're not mad at me are ya?"

"Ngh," Cloud manages a weak groan that sounds almost like a saddened whine.

Zack gently lays Cloud back down on the couch and asks him in a sympathetic tone, "So you're not mad at me then?"

Cloud looks up at him and manages a slight smile. Zack returns the smile with a much bigger one of his own because he knows what that means. No, he's not mad at him. Zack feels so relieved that Cloud isn't angry with him. Cloud slowly closes his eyes to rest as Zack affectionately ruffles his hair with a warm smile.

Just then, Zack looks down at the floor to his left and instantly notices something. He notices a large square-shaped crack in the floor close to the wall about ten feet away. He soon realizes that it's a trap door on the dirty wooden floor. "Wait here, Cloud. I'm gonna go and take a look around down there." Zack gets up off of the couch and opens up the trap door and begins to decend the wooden ladder and into the small hidden room. After entering the room, Zack turns around to see numerous shelves lining the walls. "Whoa," he says with wide eyes, surprised at how much canned food, bottled water, books, flashlights, and other supplies that are lined up on the shelves. 'Must be some kind of supply or storage room,' he thinks to himself. Something that's sitting on the floor in the back of the room catches his attention. The object is a large wooden chest. Zack kneels down next to it and opens it. He begins to dig through it, hoping that he can find something for him and Cloud to wear while their shirts dry. After digging through some old clothes that won't fit them, he soon comes across a blanket and a long dark blue leather trench coat that was stashed away in the chest. Zack decides to use the blanket for Cloud and use the trench coat for himself. "Nice coat," he states as he shakes it to make sure that there's no bugs on it. He decides to try it on. A small smile finds its way on his face when he realizes that it fits him. He soon walks over to the shelves and starts rummaging through the metal cans of food.

During this time while Zack's looking through the supplies in the hidden supply room, Cloud can't help but feel so guilty because it's up to his best friend to do pretty much everything for him. He wants to help Zack explore the hidden supply room...he just wants to help. He feels so useless, such a burden. He slightly shudders when he feels something cold and wet touch his hands and stomach. He lets out a soft and groggy moan as he opens his eyes to see what it is. His eyes widen in fear as he lets out a frightened gasp when he sees a lone fully grown grey wolf standing next to the couch. The wolf continues sniffing and licking his hands that's resting on his stomach. Is this a dream? Is he hallucinating? Is this real? Cloud wants to make some kind of noise so that Zack will come, but he's worried that if he does then the canine might attack him. The blonde decides to remain completely still and quiet in high hopes that Zack will come soon or the wolf will lose interest and go away. This wouldn't be that bad if Cloud wasn't immobilized. If he was able to move on his own then it would be so much easier for him to fend off the animal if he had to.  
Cloud suddenly takes a deep breath when he realizes that he was actually holding his breath. Right after Cloud's deep breath, the wolf soon places both of his front paws on the side of the couch and lifts himself up to where he's leaning over the human, causing Cloud's breathing to quicken. The wolf stares down at Cloud with dark hazel eyes filled with curiousity and softly whimpers like a little puppy. The blonde can feel his muscles tense up and he tightly closes his eyes when the wolf leans closer towards his face. The former infantryman can't believe this, he's survived through so many painful and terrible trials in his young twenty-one years of life all to be on the dinner menu for a wolf.  
Unknown to Cloud, this wolf isn't hungry, he's just curious because he's never seen a human before. Cloud keeps his eyes tightly closed and his body remains tensed up because he's expecting to soon feel razor sharp teeth tearing into his exposed throat. The very thought of being eaten alive terrifies him. However, he doesn't feel that at all, instead he feels the animal's tongue repeatedly lick the side of his face. Cloud opens his eyes when he feels the canine stop licking his face and watches as the wolf gently lays his head down on his chest. They continue staring at each other, Cloud's glowing ocean blue eyes gazing into the wolf's curious dark hazel eyes.

"Hey!" Zack shouts in a tone of voice that sounds both worried and surprised. He can't help but wonder how a wolf got in here. He checked the place really good to make sure that it's safe, there's no holes in the walls or opened doors or anything. There's a few windows with small holes broken through them, but that's it. Zack quickly chases the thought away to worry about later, right now he's concerned about Cloud.

Right when the grey wolf hears the voice of another human, he instantly places his front paws back on the floor and turns around to face him. Once he sees the fully grown man hastily climbing up the ladder the rest of the way, the timid wolf slightly crouches down some as he starts to walk backwards and stops when he feels his hind legs bump into the couch behind him.  
Zack quickly drops the blanket, a bottle of water, and a can of tomato soup on the wooden floor while he climbs up the ladder. The startled wolf doesn't waste any time and dashes towards the table when he sees the human race towards the couch.

Once Zack reaches the couch where his younger friend is lying down at, he gently places the back of his hand on the side of Cloud's face to let him know that he's there.  
"Guh, ungh," Cloud softly mumbles as he looks up at Zack with eyes filled with relief. The former infantryman leans his face towards his friend's hand, trying to use body language to tell Zack that he's alright. The former SOLDIER feels greatly relieved when he doesn't see any scratches or bite marks on him.

Zack quickly turns around when he hears the grey wolf howl. After his loud graceful howl, the wolf turns around and dashes into another room. Zack instantly chases after him. He grabs his sword off of the table as he runs past it and follows the canine into the room. Since the wolf didn't harm Cloud, Zack has no intentions of killing him, just to chase him away.  
"Huh?" He asks himself as he looks around the empty room with a puzzled look on his face. He has no idea where the animal went, the room is completely bare with no furniture at all. The only thing in the room is an unbroken window on the wall. "Where did he go?" He quietly asks himself as his eyes scan the area. He looks behind the door and states, "Nothing." He knows that the wolf didn't leave the room, he just ran in here and dissappeared. The whole scenario makes Zack furrow his eyebrows in confusion. "Okay, perhaps he's a um.." he thinks of what else to say as he scratches his head, "I guess a ghost wolf." It sounds more like a question than a statement.  
Since the wolf is gone, he decides to leave to check on Cloud. Zack closes the door behind him, he walks over to the table and carefully lays his Buster Sword across it. He also grabs the items that he dropped and places them on the table. He decides to keep the blanket to cover his friend up with.

He marches over to Cloud. "Hey, are you okay?" Zack asks in a voice that sounds both kind and concerned as he covers him up with the blanket that he found. Zack took it upon himself to basically adopt Cloud as his younger brother. Although they're not bound together by blood and the same last name, they are bound together by a strong friendship and fate. They both understand that sometimes that's much more powerful than being relatives. Cloud softly grunts when Zack partially picks him up some and sits down on the couch to where the back of Cloud's head is resting on his chest. Zack protectively wraps his strong muscular arms around his friend's stomach from behind. With a few slight movements with his fingers, Cloud manages to weakly grip Zack's arm with both of his hands in response.

However, not long after Zack wraps his arms around him, Cloud suddenly lets out a startled gasp followed by a whimper as everything turns green. His vision is blurry and everything is a sickly green color. Every single thing that he sees is the color of mako. Cloud can feel his body weakly tremble when he's suddenly reminded of the lab. Everything looks as it did when he would look out from his mako filled incubator prison when him and Zack were being held in the basement of Shin-Ra Manor. Not liking how everything looks, the former infantryman quickly closes his eyes and refuses to open them.

After feeling Cloud suddenly tense up, Zack leans forward some and asks him, "What's wrong?" Zack lets out a surprised gasp when he feels Cloud's grip tighten around his arm. 'Something has to be wrong with him,' he thinks to himself. "Shhh, it's okay," Zack states in a soothing voice. He knows that something is wrong with Cloud, he just doesn't know what. 'Oh no, please don't tell me that his eyes are glazed over again,' he worriedly thinks to himself once he notices that Cloud's eyes are closed. Zack decides to check his eyes, however when he attempts to gently push up on his eyelids, Cloud manages to slightly turn his head some and knocks Zack's hand away. "Cloud, I can't help you if you won't let me." Zack swallows hard and continues in a comforting tone, "Please let me help you, okay?"

Cloud softly whimpers in response as he partially opens his eyes to let Zack check them. Zack gently turns Cloud's head towards him and proceeds to check his eyes. The ex-SOLDIER can feel his heart sink as a feeling of concern floods into him, followed by a saddened and worried expression appear on his face when he sees his friend's eyes. Cloud quickly closes his eyes again when Zack's finished checking them.  
There has been quite a few times when the blonde's eyes would be fine one minute and then become glazed over the next. It's always scared Zack just as much every time because he understands how serious Cloud's condition is. A lot of the time, Zack felt like he's been cursed to see his best friend like this every single day. The only time when he didn't see him like this is when he would go to sleep..and even then he would have nightmares about it sometimes.

At the moment, Zack can't help but feel hatred towards Hojo, Shin-Ra, and even Sephiroth for forcing him and Cloud into this situation. Him and Cloud doesn't deserve this, they didn't do anything wrong. They were thrown into this whole mess when Sephiroth went insane and burned down the small mountain village of Nibelhiem, Cloud and Tifa's hometown. The infamous hero turned tyrannous villian and he also killed almost all of the villagers while he was at it, including Cloud's mother and Tifa's father. Zack, Cloud, and Tifa were trying to stop the madman. However, all three of them became seriously injured during the battle.  
Unknown to Zack, Tifa got out because her martial arts teacher, Master Zangan, took her just before Shin-Ra came. Unfortanately, he wasn't able to get Zack and Cloud because Shin-Ra arrived a few short minutes later. What happened next was that instead of being rewarded for their heroic acts, Zack and Cloud were forced to endure four years of tormented experimentation.  
The painful memories makes Zack feel physically sick to his stomach, especially when he sees what the experiments have done to Cloud. The ex-SOLDIER continues looking down at his friend and sadly thinks to himself, 'He could remain like this for the rest of his life because of Hojo.' Zack can feel his body shiver at Hojo's name. 'All to satisfy the curiousity of that cruel, heartless, and souless monster.'

The former SOLDIER abandons his thoughts when he suddenly feels Cloud's grip tighten around his arm so much that it's actually starting to hurt. Although Cloud's very weak due to his condition from the experiments, sometimes he is surprisingly strong when he's able to get a good grip on you. Cloud isn't in any physical pain, he's just prone to having nightmarish flashbacks of the lab when his eyes are like this.

"It's alright, I'm here," Zack tells him in a gentle voice to try and calm his friend down. Zack lets out a soft grunt of pain as Cloud's grip becomes tighter. He has thought about pulling his arm away, but he doesn't want Cloud to think that he is mad at him so he instantly decides not to. He decides to try and calm him down instead. Zack gently rests his chin on top of Cloud's head as he kindly tells him, "Shh, everything's gonna be alright."

Cloud softly whines like a frightened child as he continues to have quick flashbacks of the lab. Although it's been several months now, the frightful memories are still fresh in his mind. He still remembers what it felt like to be completely engulfed and submerged in mako energy. He still remembers the smell of the antiseptic. He still remembers the ice cold feeling of the surgical tools and needles peircing his skin. He still remembers the feeling of the thick solid steel restraints tightly wrapped around his ankles and wrists that unwillingly held him onto the operating table. He also still remembers an older man with long black hair tied back into a pony tail. The man wore glasses and a long white lab coat who would glare down at him with a menacing smile. Cloud whimpers when he remembers Hojo and his grip becomes so tight that Zack's arm is starting to go numb. Tears begin to form in Cloud's eyes and roll down his face when he remembers the sounds of him and Zack screaming in agony during some of the torturous experiments.

Cloud's traumatizing flashbacks are suddenly put to an end when he hears something tear. He gasps when he slightly moves his fingers and feels a large hole in the sleeve of Zack's recently discovered trenchcoat. Cloud instantly loosens his grip around Zack's arm. He didn't realize that he was squeezing his older friend's arm so tight. He really hopes that Zack isn't mad at him. With his eyes still closed, Cloud softly whimpers as he slightly turns his head some and gently nuzzles the side of his face into Zack's left bicep. His older friend knows that's his way of saying 'I'm sorry' by using body language.  
Zack gently strokes the side of Cloud's head in return as he kindly tells him in a soft soothing voice, "It's alright, I'm not mad at you. I know that you didn't mean to." Zack manages a soft chuckle and states, "I wasn't really planning on keeping this coat anyways. I'm only wearing it until my shirt dries."  
Cloud continues to softly whimper, so the former SOLDIER asks in a compassionate voice, "Hey Cloud?" Cloud stops whimpering to listen to Zack as he continues, "Would you like for me to tell you something that's very important?" The younger man lets out a soft moan in response. Zack gently rests his chin on Cloud's shoulder and softly whispers in his ear, "I love you." Zack looks down at his younger friend with a big smile on his face. Zack's smile widens even more when he notices one of the corners of Cloud's lips form a small smile in response. Cloud then manages to weakly whisper something. "Huh? What was that, buddy?" Zack asks as he puts his ear close to the blonde's mouth so that he can hear him better. The former SOLDIER smiles again when he hears Cloud faintly whisper a mumble that sounds a little like, "Love you too, Zack." Zack gently buries the side of his face into Cloud's messy blonde spikes as he continues to hold his best friend in his arms for a few more minutes.

After Zack gets his friend calmed down, he decides to get them both something to eat. Since some of the canned food that Zack found in the hidden room earlier doesn't have a broken seal, he decides to have him and Cloud eat some of it. The expiration date has passed on them, but Zack knows that doesn't matter as long as the seal isn't broken and the can isn't bloated. He knows that it's still safe to eat and taste just as good as before. After he gets the food cooked with help from the fireplace, Zack marches over to the couch and sits down to where the back of Cloud's head is resting on his chest again. Cloud still keeps his eyes closed. "Hey buddy, open your mouth," Zack orders in a kind voice as he begins to feed his younger friend. While he feeds Cloud some warm tomato soup, Zack looks out a window in front of him and notices that the sun is beginning to set. He watches for a few seconds as the bright rays from the sun shine around the numerous evergreen trees. He also looks at the beautiful bright colors in the sky that contrasts with the sun's rays as the bright life giving star continues to slowly float down behind the lush green trees.  
While looking at the sky, Zack can't help but remember the promise that he'd made to his girlfriend, Aerith. He promised her that he'd take her above the plate in Midgar to see the sky. The cherished memories that he shared with her makes his heart ache and feel heavy. 'I'll keep my promise Aerith, I swear. I never break my promises, I always keep them,' he thinks to himself.  
Zack's thoughts of Aerith suddenly gets interrupted when he hears Cloud groan in hunger. Zack has the spoon in the can of tomato soup and is holding it in front of Cloud. He didn't mean to tease his friend with the delicious smell of food that's just inches beyond the blonde's reach. Zack softly chuckles and tells him, "Okay I'll give you some more, but only because you asked nicely," he playfully jokes with a smile.

After they both finish eating a few minutes later, Zack gets up and puts the fire out. He doesn't want to risk having any troops see the smoke coming out of the chimney. He doesn't believe that there's any troops nearby, but he really doesn't want to take any chances. After he puts out the fire in the fire place, he kneels down next to the couch and informs his friend, "Hey Cloud, there's a ladder over there that leads up to a bedroom. It's up high and the only way up is with that ladder, so it should be a safe place to sleep for the night. I've already checked it out when we first got here. I also moved our stuff up there earlier when the food was cooking." Cloud lets out a soft moan in response. "I'll go ahead and carry you up there now, okay?" Zack gently grabs Cloud and hoists him up over his shoulders to where his right arm and leg is dangling down Zack's shoulders and his left arm and leg is dangling down Zack's back. While the older man walks towards the ladder, he feels Cloud weakly grip the back of his coat.

"Ungh, Z...Za," Cloud manages to faintly whisper.

Cloud's whisper was so faint that if it wasn't for Zack's enhanced hearing, he probably wouldn't have heard him. The former SOLDIER gently pats him on the leg and replies, "It's okay. I've got you." Zack firmly wraps his arm around Cloud's arm and leg more when he begins climbing up the ladder.

Once they get up the ladder, Zack gently lays his friend down on the bed. Cloud's limp body sinks into the soft bed almost instantly as his muscles relax. The former infantryman moans in comfort when he feels Zack cover him up with a blanket. "I know that both of us rather have our own bed, but this is the only place for us to sleep," Zack states in a gentle voice as he pulls the blanket up to Cloud's chin. Cloud's eyes are still closed, he hasn't opened them at all since after he allowed for Zack to check them earlier. Cloud listens to Zack's footsteps as he walks over to the other side of the bed and sits down. Although there is a couch down below, Zack really doesn't want for them to sleep there in case that wolf decides to come back. Another reason is because Zack prefers to keep his helpless friend close to him so that he can help him in case something happens. While sitting on the edge of the bed, Zack slips his boots off and places them next to the bed.

"Za," the blonde weakly mumbles in a shaky voice as he starts to shiver.

"You're cold?" Zack asks as he lays down next to him and covers up with a blanket. Cloud softly moans in response and continues shivering. Eventhough it isn't very cold out, it's still a little bit chilly and all Cloud's wearing is his pants. The blanket that they're covering up with is also thin. So Zack understands why he is cold. Zack gently grabs his friend and rolls him over on his side so that they're facing each other and wraps an arm around him to try and keep him warm.

With a few slight movements of his fingers, Cloud feels his way around and manages to grab the front of Zack's trench coat. Cloud then manages to slightly move his head some and rests his forehead up against Zack's chest in an attempt to keep warm.  
While lying there, Cloud can't help but feel comforted and relaxed as he listens to his friend's heartbeat. It sounds like a life sustaining lullaby to him. While he continues listening to his older friend's heartbeat, Cloud can feel himself quickly drifting into a peaceful slumber as if it is a lullaby. Cloud takes a deep steady breath as he continues listening, 'thump-thump, thump-thump'.

After a few minutes, Zack notices that his younger friend isn't shivering anymore. He looks down at him and asks in a kind voice, "Better?" Cloud lets out a soft groggy groan in response right before he falls asleep. Zack smiles at him and gently places his chin on top of the blonde's head and softly says, "Good night, Cloud." Zack soon closes his eyes and falls asleep a few seconds later.

**Alright you all, there's Chapter 8. I really hope that you all like it and please feel free to leave a review/comment to let me know what you all think about it. Oh, the grey wolf was also a reference to the movie. I watched the movie a while ago and I thought that it would be kinda neat to put him in. Also in the movie, did anyone notice on the part when it shows that grey wolf in the Forgotten City, after the camera moves behind the tree and within a couple of seconds when they show that area again the wolf's gone? Anyways, that's how I got the idea to have him dissappear. The 'I love you' scene also isn't meant to be slash or anything either. I believe that there's different kinds of love. I also want to remind you all too that this is a Zack and Cloud friendship story but it's not a Zack/Cloud story. I know that I say that a lot, but I just wanted to remind you all because I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea and I can be kinda paranoid, haha. The only pairings in this story are Zack/Aerith and Cloud/Tifa. Anyways, I hope that you all like this chapter and thanks a lot for taking the time to read it.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7 or any of the characters. FF7 and the FF7 characters rightfully belongs to Square-Enix. I own nothing.**

**Okay, Chapter 9. The very beginning is a dream that Zack's having and it's in italics. In the dream, Zack's watching the part from the end of Crisis Core before he fights the army. Just thought that I'd let you all know that because I don't want to confuse anybody. This chapter also takes place directly after Chapter 8. There's also a scene when Cloud dreams about Tifa. Well, I don't really get into that very much. Um, I think that it's clear what he's dreaming about but I promise that it's not very graphic at all really. I can't really explain it that well, so I suppose that you all will see what I mean when you read that part. This chapter also has a few cuss words in it. Hopefully you all enjoy this one and please feel free to leave a review/comment to let me know what you all think about it. Thanks, enjoy.**

**On the Run for Freedom**

**Chapter 9**

_The former SOLDIER 1st Class opens his eyes in a completely dry and bare desert wasteland. He can feel the heat from the warm sun on his skin.__ Although this desert landscape looks familiar to him, he isn't entirely sure where he's at._ He sharply turns around when he hears the sound of a vehicle suddenly speeding away, causing dry dirt to fly up into the air. Zack soon sees two people stagger past him. He almost instantly realizes that he's watching himself and Cloud. He watches himself crouching down some and walking towards a group of large rocks. Zack sees that his other self has his left arm wrapped around Cloud's back and his other hand is firmly gripping the blonde's arm to support him. They make it to the rocks a couple of seconds later and the ex-SOLDIER gently sits his friend down to where he's propped up against one of the large brown rocks. Zack watches as Cloud's head almost immediately slumps down and the blonde continues to stare downwards with unblinking eyes.

_'Man, it's been almost a year now. Is he ever going to recover?' Zack finds it strange that he can hear his other self's worried thoughts. Zack's other self instantly reassures himself as he thinks, 'What am I thinking? Of course he's going to get better. I know him, he's a tough kid. We're almost to Midgar. If he's still like this when we get there, maybe Aerith can help him. She does have healing abilities, so maybe she can heal mako poisoning.'_

_Zack watches as his other self manages a small warm smile followed by a soft chuckle as he reaches out and gently ruffles his friend's blonde spiky hair. Afterwards, he climbs to his feet and begins to walk away._

_Zack can feel his mouth drop open as he watches himself leave._ _Zack turns his head to see Cloud lift his head up some. Cloud slowly manages to lift his left arm and reaches for the Zack who's walking away. The blonde obviously doesn't want Zack to leave. He looks like he is desperately trying to stop him.  
The Zack who is watching this wants to stay with his friend, not leave him. What's he doing? Is he leaving Cloud behind? He continues watching the event and witnesses Cloud's hand fall on his lap as he passes out._

_Overwhelmed with confusion, Zack turns to face his other self for answers. "Hey, what the hell are you," Zack stops to correct himself, "am I doing?" Zack runs in front of the other Zack to stop him. Zack can't help but notice his other self's unshakable determined facial expression as he yells, "He needs my," he corrects himself again, "um, our help!" However, the other Zack just walks right through him as if he isn't even there, causing Zack to slightly gasp in surprise at the other Zack's actions. He feels like he's a ghost. Even though Zack can't physically interact with anything, he remains persistent as he tries to grab the other Zack's arm. His hand goes right through him again and his other self continues marching away towards the bright sunlight. Zack's starting to get frustrated at this whole scenario. "Stop, come back!" Zack tightly clenches his fists and furrows his eyebrows in anger. "Damn it!" He points his finger in Cloud's direction as he yells, "Get your ass back there and get him!" He screams so loud that he can feel his face turn red. The other Zack just continues walking. "Did you even hear what I said?" Unfortunately, the other Zack can't see, hear, or feel him._

_Frustrated and confused, Zack walks towards Cloud's unconscious body and sits down beside him and places his hand on Cloud's shoulder. Zack sighs when his hand goes right through him too.  
A few minutes later, Zack's eyes widen in surprise and horror as he hears the loud peircing sound of gunfire, explosions, and the screams of dying men slicing through the silence of the hot and dry winds._

* * *

"Nooo!" Zack screams as his eyes shoot open and he quickly sits up in bed. He can feel his heart race in his chest as he anxiously looks around to take in his surroundings. He soon realizes that he's in the cabin and it's the middle of the night. Zack's breathing and heartbeat starts to become normal again as he realizes that it was just a nightmare. He sighs as he runs a hand through his sweaty black spiky hair. "Huh?" He asks himself when he feels something loosely wrapped around his waist, when he looks down he sees that it's Cloud's arm. Cloud's arm must've slid down some when he sat up. Zack must've rolled over on his back while he was sleeping, which would explain why he was lying like that when he woke up. That would also explain why Cloud's arm is wrapped around him now. Zack gently grabs his friend's arm and places it between them. He looks out the window and sees that it's still dark outside. After he calms down, Zack takes a deep breath and lays back down on the bed next to his friend.

"Ungh," Cloud softly groans.

Zack looks over at him and notices that Cloud's eyes are half-opened, indicating that he's awake. Zack assumes that he probably woke him up when he screamed. Zack doesn't know it, but Cloud's been awake now for a few minutes because Zack has a bad habit of talking in his sleep. While looking into his friend's eyes, the ex-SOLDIER sees that his eyes have a hazy and faint green glow to them. Cloud's eyes are still glazed over, causing Zack to sigh in disappointment and worry. He hates it when his friend's eyes are like this because it reminds him that he can't protect him from mako poisoning, he can only help him get through it. He's always protected his younger friend from everything else...except this and Hojo.

"Ngh," Cloud softly moans as Zack rolls over on his side and wraps an arm around him.

Even though it was only a small moan, Zack can sense the worry and concern in Cloud's voice. Doing his best to not sound worried, Zack tells him, "It's okay, Cloud." Remembering his dream, he swallows hard before continuing, "I'm fine, I just had a bad dream that's all. I'm sorry that I woke you up." Zack forces a smile as he looks at his friend to try and reassure him.

Despite his friend's efforts, Cloud also senses the worry in Zack's voice so he gently nuzzles the side of his face into Zack's arm, trying to use body language to help comfort him. Cloud lets out a soft grunt when he suddenly feels Zack slightly tighten his grip around his bare back some and pulls him a little closer.

Knowing that his friend was trying to comfort him, Zack slightly smiles before he kindly says, "Thanks a lot, man. I really needed that." After a yawn, Zack orders in a comforting tone, "Everything's alright now. Just go back to sleep, Cloud."

The former infantryman instantly obeys as he slowly closes his eyes and falls back asleep.  
Zack on the other hand, can't bring himself to fall asleep again because he can't stop thinking about the dream that he had. He continues lying awake in bed as numerous questions fill his mind, 'What did that dream mean? What was going on? Was I scouting ahead? Did I leave Cloud behind?' Zack swallows hard as he thinks about the last question. After a few seconds, he quickly pushes those thoughts away as he begins to feel more determined and thinks, 'No, I would never do that to him. He's my best friend and other than my memories of Aerith and my other friends and family, he's all that I have right now and I know that I'm all he has.'

While lying there, Zack soon finds himself watching Cloud sleep to help pass the time. He slightly smiles some when he notices Cloud's peaceful expression. After a few seconds, Cloud begins to shiver which makes Zack notice that the blanket is now at the blonde's waist. The former SOLDIER quickly yet gently pulls the blanket up to the side of his friend's neck.  
Zack gently wraps his arm around him again and softly whispers to his friend, "I promise that I will never leave you Cloud. I would never abandon you like that. That will never happen because we're friends and I care about you a lot." The tone of his whisper becomes more firm and serious as he continues, "The only way that I'd leave you is by death," Zack's serious tone suddenly disappears, replacing it with a smile as he manages to add a slight joke, "and even then I'd come back and haunt you." Zack quietly chuckles to himself at his joke.

Zack suddenly notices some light shining in through a nearby window. As he looks out the window, he notices that the sun's beginning to rise. "Man, time flies," Zack tells himself with a smile to welcome the sun and the start of a new day as he starts to sit up. However, he almost immediately lays back down when he realizes that Cloud somehow managed to get both of his hands wrapped around his arm. Zack gives Cloud a big smile as he playfully tells him, "Awww Cloud, I didn't know that you love me that much." Zack softly laughs at his words while he attempts to gently unwrap Cloud's hands from around his arm. However, while trying to carefully remove his friend's hands from around his arm, Cloud's grip gets a little tighter. Zack stops trying to free his arm and looks over at his sleeping friend as he playfully jokes, "Hey listen man, I know that we're both going through a very tough time right now" he sighs before continuing "but this relationship just ain't gonna work. I mean you're a dude and I am too and I'm not gonna be hurt again." Zack suddenly bursts out laughing, he's surprised that he was able to keep a straight face during that joke. The ex-SOLDIER quickly silences himself when he sees Cloud stir.  
After a few seconds, Zack finally manages to free his arm from Cloud's grip. The former SOLDIER can't help but feel guilty when he sees Cloud's peaceful facial expression slowly change into a slight frown after he removes his arm and sits up. Cloud begins to softly whine when he feels Zack's presence disappear. "I'm sorry man, but we gotta get dressed because we'll be leaving soon," Zack tells him as he reaches towards the wooden foot board of the bed and grabs his clothes, which have dried over night.

After removing the trenchcoat, Zack puts his SOLDIER 1st Class uniform back on. "That's better," the ex-SOLDIER states, enjoying the feeling of having his own clothes back on. After he gets everything on including his shoulder guards, boots, and gloves, Zack grabs Cloud's socks off of the foot board. While sitting on the bed next to Cloud, Zack grabs the blanket and uncovers him. "Alright Cloud, our clothes are dry so now it's time for ya to get dressed," Zack informs him with a soft grunt as he gently rolls him over on his back.  
"You know that I can't let you run around half naked," he jokes. Of course Zack knows that Cloud can't actually 'run around' in his weakened state, but he still likes to crack a few jokes whenever he gets the chance to.

"Oh, sorry," Zack tells his sleeping friend when he notices Cloud shivering again after pulling the blanket off of him. While Zack reaches for the trench coat to cover his friend up with, Cloud softly grunts as he manages to slowly roll over on his stomach to try to keep warm. Zack can't help but smile after seeing Cloud roll over on his own. That's the most movement that he's made on his own in a while. After he covers him up with the trench coat, Zack gently places his hand on the back of Cloud's shoulder as he tells him in a hushed tone, "I'm gonna do some squats real quick before you get dressed, okay buddy?" The ex-SOLDIER climbs off of the bed and begins to do some squats. The reason why he suddenly decided to exercise before waking his younger friend up is because he knows that it's important for Cloud to get a good amount of rest in order to recover. He also wants to do some squats because he hasn't done any in a couple of days.

Cloud weakly grunts as he manages to move his arm to the other side of the bed where Zack was previously laying down at earlier. With a trembling hand, he weakly grips something but it feels like it's some kind of blanket instead of Zack. He suddenly begins to panic. Where's Zack? Where did he go? He was right here earlier. He felt his presence disappear earlier, but he thought that he was dreaming at that time. Now in a semi-awake state, he groggily mutters in a voice that sounds confused and slightly panicked, "ZZZaaa..? ZZaaaa...?"

Zack immediately stops exercising and quickly walks over to the side of the bed. Cloud stops partially calling out his name and a small smile appears on his face when he feels Zack gently hold his hand and tell him in a soft tone, "Shhh, it's okay. I'm here, Cloud." He pulls the trench coat off of him before he climbs back onto the bed and wraps his arms around his friend from behind as he says, "Come here." He lets out a soft grunt as he scoops him up in his arms and sits him on his lap. Cloud partially opens his eyes when he hears Zack tell him, "I'm with you."

Cloud gazes up at him through eyes that are barely opened as he gently rests the side of his face up against his best friend's chest and lets out a deep breath of relief. He feels so much better now that he knows that Zack's there. He weakly grips Zack's shirt as he whispers, "Zaaa..."

"Shh, everything's alright. Don't worry because I'm not going anywhere, okay?" he promises. He refuses to ever leave his friend like he did in his nightmare...if he did leave him in his nightmare. Zack is still uncertain about what was going on in his nightmare or if it even meant anything at all. Zack can't help but smile down at his younger friend when he sees Cloud weakly grip his arm just above his wrist while he continues clinging onto Zack's shirt with his other hand. Cloud lets out a soft and incoherent mumble when he feels Zack hold on to him a little tighter. He takes another deep breath that's full of comfort as his eyes begin to close and he falls asleep in Zack's arms.

After holding onto his friend for a few minutes to make sure that he's okay, Zack decides to get Cloud dressed. He gently lays him down on his back and playfully ruffles his messy blonde spikes as he smiles and says to his sleeping friend, "I'm staying right here so don't you worry, kid."

The former SOLDIER soon crawls over to the foot of the bed and gently pulls Cloud's feet next to him so that he can put his socks on. Zack looks at Cloud and sees that he has a peaceful expression on his face. Zack slightly raises an eyebrow when he sees an unusually big smile slowly appear on Cloud's face. "Hmm, he looks pretty happy. I wonder what he's dreaming about," Zack curiously says to himself as he gets the blonde's socks on him.

"Unngh," Cloud unconciously moans.

Zack looks back at Cloud after he hears him moan. He soon sees Cloud's lips part as he silently mouths the name 'Tifa'. After a couple of seconds, Zack can't help but burst out laughing when he figures out what his friend said...and what he's dreaming about. Once he's done laughing, Zack tells his sleeping friend, "So that's what you're dreaming about. Well, it's good to know that at least one of us is having sweet dreams."

Zack gets Cloud's boots on him when he hears him moan again, "Uunnnghh."

The ex-SOLDIER laughs again before telling him, "You need to calm down some, kid. Man, I admit that there has been a few times when I had those kind of dreams about Aerith. I swear that I'm not a pervert or anything it's just, well I can't really control my dreams, so it just kinda happens." Zack laughs again before he jokes, "I think that you might've been hanging out with me too long because some things that I do are starting to rub off on you."

Zack grabs Cloud's shirt off of the foot board and crawls over beside his friend as he tells him in a teasing voice, "Okay, come here lover boy. It's time for you to finally get your shirt back on." As Zack lifts him up some to where the side of Cloud's face is resting against Zack's chest, he sees Cloud silently mouth Tifa's name again. Zack manages to hold back his laughter this time and tells him with a smile, "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not your girlfriend." Zack lets out a loud chuckle and says, "I know that me and her have the same hair color, but I'm definitely not her though."  
Just as Zack pulls Cloud's shirt over his head, Cloud partially opens his mako glazed eyes. Zack notices that Cloud's awake and leans over some as he tells his friend in a playful tone, "Oh, you're done." Zack slightly chuckles as he teasingly asks, "She didn't wear you out too much did she?" Cloud remains completely silent in response as he continues to stare at the foot board of the bed. 'That's strange, I was expecting for him to blush or something,' the older man thinks to himself.

Cloud remains completely silent and still as Zack gently pulls his arm through one of the sleeveless arm holes of his turtleneck. Zack smiles as he playfully jokes, "You know, this would be a lot easier for both of us if you would hold still and stop squirming around so much." Cloud remains silent in response. Zack gently lays him back down on the bed and rolls him over on his side so that he can get his arm through the other sleeve.

After getting Cloud completely dressed back into his SOLDIER 1st Class uniform, Zack rolls him over on his back. The blonde remains completely still and quiet as he continues to stare off into space with unblinking eyes and a blank emotionless expression. There has been a few times in the past when Cloud would get like this to where pretty much all he would do was stare, but it would only last for a few minutes. He's been like this since he woke up about ten minutes ago.  
Zack starts to get worried, so he quickly comes up with an idea to try and get Cloud to become responsive. "Hey buddy, did you like your dream?" The former SOLDIER asks as he forces a small smile. Cloud remains the same. Zack scratches the side of his face while he thinks of a different approach. The older man smiles when he thinks of another idea. He gently grabs his friend and pulls him close so that the back of Cloud's head is resting on his lap. Zack gently wraps an arm around Cloud's stomach as he gives him a big smile and playfully tells him, "Hey, I've got ya. What are you gonna do now, huh?" Zack waits for a few seconds, hoping that Cloud will at least make a small sound or blink his eyes. However, he still remains completely unresponsive. Zack worriedly sighs as he gently lays his friend back down on the bed.

Zack places his hands on the soft bed around both sides of Cloud's head and leans over him some. He asks him in a tender voice, "You okay?" Cloud manages to slightly move his eyes some and stares past Zack's arm. Zack follows Cloud's gaze and looks behind him to see what his friend is looking at. He realizes that Cloud's looking at the Buster Sword that's leaning up against the wall across from the bed. He looks back down at Cloud and gives him a kind smile as he asks him, "Oh, you like my sword?" Cloud continues to stare at Zack's sword in response. "Well, it's a good thing that you like it because that might become yours someday."

Zack places his hand on the side of Cloud's face and gently turns his head some so that he's looking up at him. While studying the former infantryman's eyes, Zack notices that they're not just glazed over, they're also unfocused. He almost instantly notices the mako swirling around in Cloud's eyes like an eerie green mist. The former SOLDIER gives him a concerned look as he worriedly thinks to himself, 'Man, can he even see anything?' Zack moves his hand up some and gently strokes Cloud's messy blonde spikes as he softly asks him, "Cloud, can you hear me?" Zack silently gasps in surprise when he suddenly sees Cloud slowly close his eyes and slowly open them again in response. Zack almost immediately smiles down at Cloud because although it's a very small and simple reaction, it's still something.

Zack gives him a big smile as he affectionately ruffles Cloud's hair. He soon climbs off of the bed and gently grabs him. "Come on, let's get ready to go." While half-carrying his younger friend, Zack grabs his Buster Sword and sheaths it on his back. Once they get up to the ladder, Zack gently tosses Cloud over his shoulder and descends the ladder. When they get onto the first floor, Zack gently pulls Cloud off of his shoulder and positions him to where he's half-carrying him again.

"Ngh...guh," Cloud softly grunts after taking about two steps when his legs suddenly starts to feel heavy, like really heavy lead weights.

Zack turns his head when he notices that the blonde is just standing there and is no longer walking. Slightly narrowing his eyes in confusion, he kindly asks him, "Come on, Cloud. Can you walk?"

Cloud lets out a weak moan in response to Zack's question just before his legs suddenly gives out and he begins to collapse to the floor. Zack quickly scoops him up like a child as he falls and continues to walk towards the couch. "Don't worry I got ya, buddy." Zack looks down at his friend and says, "I'm still kinda tired too." He softly chuckles before continuing, "I've never liked getting up really early in the morning like this either." He looks straight ahead and adds, "Well, sometimes I don't really mind it too much. It pretty much depends on how tired I am."

Cloud softly groans when Zack gently lays him down on the couch. A concerned expression instantly finds its way on Zack's face when he notices that Cloud's staring off into space with unblinking eyes again. "Hey, Cloud?" He asks in a tender voice as he gently places his hand on the side of Cloud's face. The former SOLDIER smiles down at him when he sees his younger friend snap out of his weird mako induced trance and look up at him. Although Cloud's blinking his eyes now, Zack can't help but feel concerned about him. Cloud has spent the majority of the morning just staring and Zack finds that to be odd. So he decides to check his vital signs to see if he's doing okay.

"Mngh," Cloud softly mumbles when Zack sits down on the edge of the couch next to him and grabs his arm and checks his pulse on his wrist. Cloud can't help but feel confused when Zack checks his pulse on the side of his neck soon after. Why is he checking his pulse on the side of his neck when he just checked his pulse on his wrist? Zack gives his friend a smile full of kindness when he removes his glove and gently places his hand on the side of Cloud's face, followed by his forehead. Cloud really wishes that he can just come out and say something like, 'I'm fine, Zack. Don't worry about me.'

Zack manages to keep smiling so that he won't worry his friend. "Everything's fine, I'm just making sure that you're doing okay that's all," the ex-SOLDIER states in a caring voice that is followed by another confident smile as he puts his glove back on.

Cloud lets out a soft sigh when his older friend suddenly places his hand on his chest to check his heartbeat. Yeah, Zack is definitely worried about him. Although Cloud's used to Zack checking him like this, he can tell what his older friend is thinking just from judging by his looks and actions. Even his voice gives it away. Zack's always been pretty good at trying to hide things from people, but him and Cloud has been nearly unseperable for almost five years now and the blonde can see right through his facade. With the ex-SOLDIER checking him like this, the former infantryman suddenly feels like he's at the doctor's office for a check up.

"Well, your pulse and temperature is normal. Hold on, I'm just gonna check one more thing." The former SOLDIER leans over and gently places his ear up against Cloud's chest to make sure that his heartbeat is normal. 'Yeah, it sounds normal,' he thinks to himself.

During this moment, Cloud manages to summon just enough strength to faintly mutter in a weak voice, "Ungh, ZZZ...ZZaaa...ck."

Zack instantly raises his head and looks down at his friend, his eyes wide and his mouth dropped open in astonishment. Did Cloud just say his name? It wasn't just his imagination was it? A big and cheerful smile instantly finds its way on Zack's face when he realizes that Cloud said an actual word and out of all of the words to choose from, he said the name of his best and closest friend. This is the happiest moment that Zack's ever had during their time on the run together.  
The ex-SOLDIER suddenly feels his entire body become overwhelmed with so much hope that he finds himself laughing. He gently lifts Cloud up some and gives him a big hug. "I always knew that you'd get better," he whispers in his best friend's ear. After hugging him for a few minutes, he finally lays his younger friend back down on the couch to rest. The former SOLDIER looks down at his friend with a big and bright smile that is full of both happiness and kindness as he gently strokes Cloud's hair.

The blonde looks up at Zack with wide glazed over eyes and manages a small smile. "ZZZaa.." Cloud faintly whispers, attempting to say his friend's name again.

"Yeah, I'm right here." Zack reaches down and gently holds Cloud's hand before he continues, "It's me, Zack."

The blonde keeps his eyes focused on his best friend with a determined look on his face. Zack can tell just by the look on his friend's face that he's straining himself as he says a little louder, "Mnguh, Za..."

"Shhh," Zack silences him in a tender voice. He continues to gently stroke Cloud's hair as he tells him, "Save your strength, okay?"

Cloud obeys Zack and becomes silent while he continues looking up at him with glazed over eyes that are now half-opened. "Unngh," the former infantryman moans a few seconds later.

Zack smiles down at him again while he replies, "Love ya too, buddy." He gently pats him on the shoulder. "Hey, I'm gonna get us some breakfast, okay?" Before he gets up off of the couch, he tells his friend, "There's a lot of pine trees around here, so I'm gonna go ahead and" he scratches his forehead while he continues "make you some pine needle tea."

"Ngh."

"Because it's good for you. It boosts up your immune system."

* * *

After a quick breakfast and giving Cloud some freshly made pine needle tea, Zack studies a map that he found in the supply room the day before. After studying it, he folds it up and stuffs it in his pants pocket. He makes his way over to Cloud and gently picks him up off of the couch. "It's time to go, Cloud," he says with a grunt as he picks him up. However, not long after he attempts to half-carry him, he realizes that Cloud's still too weak to take steps like he usually does right now. "Hang on, man. I've got an idea." Zack positions Cloud to where he's behind him and kneels down while he holds on to his arms, taking great care to make sure that the ex-infantryman doesn't cut his legs on the Buster Sword that's also on his back. "There ya go," he tells him as he places his hands underneath the blonde's thighs and hoists him up on his back. Cloud lets out a soft moan as his head immediately comes to rest on Zack's left shoulder.

While Zack starts to walk towards the door, he slightly turns his head some when he hears Cloud moan again. He looks straight ahead and continues marching towards the door. He softly chuckles as he jokes, "Yeah well..just remember that after you get better, I'm gonna hop on your back and make you give me a piggy-back ride like this."

Cloud takes a deep breath before responding, "Ngh, ugh."

Zack laughs before he answers, "I know, kid. I'm just kidding."

They leave the cabin and Zack walks into the nearby forest. Carrying his younger friend on his back like this reminds Zack of a past memory. He lets out a soft and happy sounding laugh as he tells Cloud, "I used to carry Aerith around like this sometimes." He turns his head some as he continues, "Well, not that I'm comparing you to my girlfriend or anything." He looks straight ahead and he soon lets out a hardy chuckle and playfully adds, "Sorry Cloud, but you're not that pretty." He can't help but laugh at his joke.  
"Anyways, after I'd give her a piggy-back ride, she'd always tell me how strong I am and she would feel my muscles." Zack maneuvers around a couple of dead fallen trees before continuing with a soft chuckle, "That's one of the reasons why I do squats all the time."

Cloud lets out a prolonged moan in response, "Uunnnngh."

"Yeah, I agree. That was a really good breakfast." Zack smiles while he says, "You're probably in a good mood to because I fixed ya some of that strawberry oatmeal that you like so much. It's a good thing that you like it that watery. I think that most people like it when it's thick."

"Mnguhh," Cloud groggily mumbles. He softly sighs before he mutters, "Za..?"

Zack slightly raises an eyebrow and turns his head some. "Huh?"

"Mngh, uunnnghh," is Cloud's reply as his head lolls to the side.

"Of course I know where we're going. I looked at that map after we ate and it's in my pocket, alright?" Zack informs him with a small smile.

"Mmng..Nuuhh," the former infantryman replies as he manages to weakly nudge Zack on the back of the shoulder with his chin.

"Oh, Cloud. You worry too much sometimes." He lets out a small laugh and continues telling him, "Sometimes you kinda remind me of my mom."

"Nngh."

Zack briefly stops walking for a couple of seconds to get a better grip on Cloud's legs after he notices that his grip is starting to slip. After fixing his grip, he continues marching through the woods.

"Ngh."

Zack smiles when he feels Cloud nudge him in the back of the shoulder again. "No, not yet. We still got a little while until we gotta turn right. If we keep going at a good pace like this, we should get there in a couple of days." They continue their way through the deep forest.

**Okay, that's Chapter 9. I hope that you all like it and please feel free to leave a review if you want too. I did make Cloud a little more responsive in this chapter, because the next chapter, Chapter 10, will be the final chapter of this story. I've been trying to show him slowly recovering from mako poisoning. So, with how Cloud was acting some in this chapter, I was kinda setting the stage for Chapter 10. I know that this chapter didn't have very much action or anything in it, but I promise that the majority of Chapter 10 will be pretty action-packed. Oh, and that scene in this chapter, when Cloud was having a dream about Tifa, I don't believe that Zack and Cloud are perverted or anything at all. I personally believe that they're both very descent with women. I mainly put that scene in because I thought that it was kinda funny. I also figured that poor Cloud's been having a pretty tough time in the actual story line and in this story. So, because of that, I wanted to do something very nice for him because the poor guy needed a break. About the 'pine needle tea,' it's when you take some pine tree needles and boil them in water. It's actually very good for you and helps strengthen your immune system. Of course you don't eat the pine needles or anything, you just drink the water after it's done. Yes, I'm a bit of a survival nerd, haha. Anyways, thank you all so much for reading this.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7 or any of the Final Fantasy 7 characters. Final Fantasy 7 and all of the Final Fantasy 7 characters rightfully belongs to Square-Enix. I own nothing.**

**Okay, Chapter 10, the last and final chapter for this story, the grand finale. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and I also hope that you all have enjoyed this story as well. This chapter does have a lot of action in it. It's also based off of FF7:Last Order, but there's a few scenes that's new. Oh, and I promise that there are no permanent main character deaths either. Anyways, please leave a review/comment to let me know what you all think about it. Please enjoy.**

**On the Run for Freedom**

**Chapter 10**

The two young heroes continue trudging through the woods together. It's night time now that the sun already set and has been replaced by the moon and stars. Zack can't help but notice that Cloud's very pale and sweaty. While listening to Cloud's hard and labored breaths, Zack finds himself feeling deeply concerned about his younger friend. Cloud seemed to be getting better just before they left the cabin this morning, but now his condition appears to have worsened since then. Before they left the safety of the cabin, Cloud just looked a little tired and was making different sounds. He even managed to say Zack's name while he was checking his vital signs. However, now he's breathing heavily due to the fact that they've been on the move all day with hardly any breaks because Zack knows that they're being followed.

Zack suddenly stops when he starts to lose his grip on Cloud. "Whoops," is his simple reply as he quickly regains a firm grip on his friend. "Sorry about that." Zack looks over at him when he hears a soft whimper that's barely audible, he instantly realizes that it came from Cloud. Zack sighs when his eyes meet Cloud's mako glazed ones. The ex-SOLDIER's expression saddens some with the feeling of guilt when he notices Cloud slightly look up at him as if he is silently begging Zack to let him stop and rest for a few minutes. In a soft voice, he sighs before answering, "I want to let you rest, but unfortunately we don't have time for that right now." He really does want to let his friend take a break, but he knows that they can't stop now.

They continue walking forward when Zack hears fast paced footsteps running up behind them. While still holding onto his unresponsive friend, Zack draws his Buster Sword and swipes a Shin-Ra infantryman with it, cutting him in half at the torso. He quickly spins around and swipes another trooper who tried to attack them and dispatches him as well. Finding it difficult to fight while holding onto his younger friend, Zack is forced to let him go. Cloud slides down Zack's side and lands on his stomach on the brown dirt covered ground. Now that Cloud's lying down on the ground, the blonde takes this time to catch his breath.

The last infantryman holds his sword out in front of him, knowing that he's no match at all against Zack, he hesitates before charging at full speed. "Aahhh!"

The former SOLDIER is quick to act. He once again does a fatal sword swipe, leaving a gaping gash in the infantryman's lower abdomen trailing up to his neck, killing him instantly like the others.

After sheathing his sword, he marches over to Cloud as he sighs before saying, "Like some average grunts can take me down." Zack gently grabs Cloud and picks him up so that he can continue half-carrying him. Zack gives his friend a concerned look when he sees the blonde's head slump back down to where his chin is resting on his chest again. He continues looking over at him before he adds, "Right?"  
Cloud doesn't answer or respond to his friend's words in any way, other than his half-opened eyes and now normal sounding breathing, he continues to be completely unresponsive. Of course, Zack isn't really expecting an answer.

Zack turns his head and slightly furrows his eyebrows after he hears another infantryman shout in the distance, "There they are!"

The ex-SOLDIER sighs before he states with annoyance, "They can't take a hint."

Zack tightens his grip on Cloud as he quickly runs straight ahead after seeing a small cliff about one-hundred yards away. Zack's grip slightly tightens a little more around his friend when he hears and sees several bullets flying past them. While racing towards the cliff, Zack taunts the infantrymen by shouting, "Stop wasting bullets! Like it'll hit me!"  
The bullets continue flying past them as they finally make it to the cliff. Once they make it to the cliff, Zack jumps straight down with Cloud in tow. Concerned that his friend might get hurt on the landing, Zack quickly wraps an arm around his legs and scoops him up right before they land on the hard ground. After their landing, Zack unwraps his arm around his legs and positions Cloud to where he can half-carry him again before they continue running from their constant pursuers.

Zack soon finds themselves no longer surrounded by trees, but by large towering steel beams. Uncertain what this place is, he continues running. After hearing a soft whimper, he softly replies to his younger friend, "We're okay, we just gotta keep moving."

"Now!" Zack hears a loud voice command. After hearing that order, the ex-SOLDIER stops running after he sees a large number of Shin-Ra troops step out from behind most of the steel beams and completely surrounds them. Zack sighs when he discovers that they've been led into a trap. The troops are everywhere, there's even some that's standing on top of the beams, all of them have their assault rifles pointed at Zack and Cloud.

The former SOLDIER instantly unsheathes his Buster Sword and holds it horizontally in front of Cloud, doing his best to use it as a shield to protect his friend in case the troops attack. Taking a few steps back, Zack tells the infantrymen, "Geez, making a big fuss just over the two of us." After he stops walking backwards, he keeps his eyes locked on their enemies as he asks Cloud, "Well then...What should we do now?" As expected, Cloud doesn't make a sound, he keeps his head slumped over with his chin resting on his chest.

Zack looks over at Cloud and gives him a small smile as he thinks, 'Hmm, I've got an idea.'

The ex-SOLDIER releases his grip on his younger friend and gently sits him down to where he's between one of the large beams. He then takes his Buster Sword and plants it into the ground in front of the blonde, using a lot of his strength to do so. Now that Cloud's in a safer place, using lightning quick speeds, Zack dashes over to the nearest infantryman. Before the infantryman even gets a chance to react, everything suddenly fades to black for him when Zack punches him in the face.

A second infantryman aims his assault rifle at Zack and prepares to pull the trigger. However, the ex-SOLDIER quickly and easily takes him down by kicking him. The next thing that Zack knows, bullets start flying past him as he begins using numerous evasive maneuvers, causing him to easily dodge every single bullet that's being shot at him. His eyes slightly widen some when he sees a couple of the bullets almost hit him in the arm. He uses his super-human speed to cleverly dodge and roll at an angle which causes the not so clever infantrymen to shoot each other by accident, wiping out the majority of them.

The infantrymen's Captain immediately starts to get frustrated at the situation. "Hold your fire, we're shooting each other!" After seeing one of his men who's standing in front of him go down from being shot, he orders, "Engage the situation in close quarters combat!"

With that command, a large group of troops draw their swords and run up to Zack. The ex-SOLDIER is quick to act as everything becomes a flurry of super-human kicks and punches. The battle doesn't last long as he dispatches them with ease without a scratch.

Zack turns his head after hearing the sound of a vehicle in the distance. Seeing that it's two motorcycles, he dashes forward. 'I'll lead them away from Cloud, chances are they'll probably follow me,' he thinks to himself. He hates to leave Cloud behind, but it is only temporary.

Completely annoyed and frustrated at the entire situation, the Captain looks over at the two infantrymen on the motorcycles and shouts, "After him!" Both of the vehicles immediately speed after Zack. While looking around at the ground that's now completely littered with the bodies of almost all of his men, he thinks, 'There's a lot more of us than them. How does he keep wiping out our numbers so damn easily!'  
The Captain stands on top of a hill as he watches the raven haired fugitive run away. "Heh." He soon turns his attention on the blonde fugitive before telling himself, "To think that he would leave his companion behind." He adds in a mocking tone, "SOLDIER 1st Class."

Cloud listens as the sounds of Zack's footsteps running in the opposite direction begin to fade away, taking the blonde's hope with him. Cloud becomes overwhelmed with numerous emotions as he thinks with slightly fragmented thoughts, 'Zack...leave? But...promised to...help. Abandoned..me? No, he promised.'

The Captain looks over at what's left of the troops who's still standing. Pointing at two of them, he commands, "You two."

Both of them immediately stands up straight as they say in unison, "Sir!"

"Over here right now and move this sword!"

"Yes, sir!" They both quickly jog over to Zack's Buster Sword that's shielding Cloud from them. They grunt as they try to pull it up out of the ground with no success.

The Captain then looks at the third and last trooper, who's a medic and shouts, "Aiken!"

Aiken slightly jumps when he hears his last name being called. "Yes, sir." He stands up completely straight.

"Tend to the wounded."

Aiken looks at the Captain as he informs, "They're all dead but four. Corvin, Ramirez, Coen, and Stone are unconscious and injured, but it's not too serious. I've already treated their wounds, sir."

"Then go and help them complete the mission." The Captain points towards the other two troops.

Following the Captain's orders, the young trooper quickly runs over to help his fellow comrades. His eyes widen when he sees the blonde fugitive up close. "Hey, wait. He looks familiar."

The Captain sighs and rolls his eyes before he replies in an annoyed tone, "He's a fugitive. Now, do as you're told."

Now getting suspicious, Aiken roughly pushes the two men who were trying to pull the Buster Sword out of the ground away and moves in front of Cloud. "Did it ever occur to you all that they're both wearing Shin-Ra SOLDIER 1st Class uniforms?"

The Captain and the other two men glare at Aiken with narrow eyes. The Captain stomps over to him and yells, "You're jeopardizing the mission! I gave you an order to help remove that sword!"

Aiken raises his hands up in defense as he calmly replies, "Sir, I'm just saying that something weird is going on here and I think that not everything is what it seems."

The older Captain looks at him with an angry glare, their faces inches apart. "You will step aside, medic."

The young infantryman medic stands strong and tall as he answers in a firm voice, "No, sir."

"I insist."

Aiken looks down and notices that the Captain is now pointing his assault rifle at him. The Captain knows that the assault rifle isn't loaded. Believing that the assault rifle is loaded and ready to fire, Aiken sadly looks down at the ground in defeat and steps aside.

The Captain gives him a cold smile as he replies, "Good choice. You're not so pathetic after all. That wasn't so hard now was it?" He looks at the other two troops and orders, "Both of you can carry on."

Aiken decides to check on his four wounded comrades. He sighs as he witnesses the remains of the dead troops join the Lifestream. After checking on his wounded fellow troops, he hears the sound of a motorcycle in the distance, followed by an incoming message on the radio. Due to the noise from the vehicle, he only hears part of the message on the radio inform, "Target has acquired a motorcycle vehicle." He turns around when he hears a couple of loud pained grunts behind him, allowing him to see his other two comrades fall dead to the ground after the raven-haired fugitive attacks them, leaving only the Captain and Aiken left that's alive and uninjured.

The Captain's eyes widen in fear as he comes across a sudden realization. "Y-you're Zack."

The ex-SOLDIER removes his sword with ease and spins it around a couple of times before he sheathes it on his back. He kneels down in front of Cloud and apologizes, "Sorry to keep you waiting, Cloud."

The Captain quickly reaches into his pocket and grabs a clip to reload his weapon. "Stop! I can't let you leave, Zack."

The former SOLDIER climbs to his feet and turns around to see an infantryman Captain standing behind him with his assault rifle pointed at him, preparing to pull the trigger. Zack's eyes widen in surprise when he hears a thud and the Captain falls to the ground, revealing an infantryman standing behind him. The trooper has an assault rifle and used the butt-end of it to knock out the Captain.

Aiken looks down at his unconscious officer and replies, "Sorry, sir." He looks up at Zack with wide eyes. "It's great to see you again, Colonel."

Zack looks at him with a puzzled expression on his face. He recognizes the young man's voice, but he just can't remember who he is for some reason.

The young medic notices Zack's puzzled look and can't help but smile. "Remember me?"

Zack doesn't answer, he continues to try and remember who this man is.

"It's me, sir, Tom Aiken," he says as he removes his helmet to reveal a young man with short light brown hair.

Zack's puzzled look fades away and gets replaced with a smile as he finally remembers this man. He remembers that Tom Aiken was one of the infantrymen that he trained and he also served under his command along with Cloud. Zack cheerfully laughs and smiles as he walks up to him and pats him on the back. "Well, it's great to see you too. Are you still a medic?"

"Yes, Colonel Fair."

Zack smiles and replies, "That's good." He softly chuckles before complimenting, "You've always been the best medic that I've ever come across."

Tom smiles at his former commanding officer. "Thank you, sir." Ever since Zack was presumed dead by the company, Tom hated taking orders from anyone else except Kunsel. The only high ranking officers that he liked working with and taking orders from was Zack and Kunsel because they've always treated their fellow comrades with respect. He can't believe that Zack and Cloud are still alive. Him and Kunsel have always told each other that they believe that they're alive because Shin-Ra has a bad habit of lying.

Zack's eyes widen some when he hears a helicopter in the distance.

Zack's former apprentice also hears the sound of a helicopter. He notices the uncomfortable look on Zack's face. Knowing that time is short and that Zack and Cloud need to leave, the young medic tells him, "You should leave, sir."

Zack looks at him, his eyes falls on the still unconscious Captain, then back up at Tom. "What about the Captain? When he wakes back up, what are you going to tell him?"

Tom lightly rubs the back of his neck before answering, "I'll tell him that he got knocked out by a monster and while I was fighting that monster to save him you both got away." He shakes his head and states, "Who knows, maybe he'll actually come to appreciate me a bit more after that."

Zack lets out a hardy chuckle and states, "Whoa, that sounds pretty convincing."

The medic gives Zack a concerned look when he suddenly hears the sound of the helicopter getting louder. He really wants to talk more with the man who was once his commanding officer because there is so many questions that he wants to ask him. However, he knows that it will be too dangerous for his past comrades to stay much longer.

"Sorry Tom, but we've gotta go." Zack quickly walks over and gently picks Cloud up.

While Zack's putting Cloud on the motorcycle, Tom worriedly says, "Wait, Colonel."

Zack turns and looks at his past apprentice as the medic informs him, "I heard that if Shin-Ra would fail to apprehend both of you, then they would set up posts outside of Midgar."

Zack furrows his eyebrows some as he asks, "Where?"

"I'm sorry sir, but I wasn't given that information about the exact location." Zack climbs onto the motorcycle while holding onto Cloud as Tom continues, "All I know is that they'll be waiting for you on the outskirts of Midgar with..." Tom suddenly stops talking and sadly looks down at the ground.

"Tom?"

"With a thousand men," he completes his warning, his voice tinged with worry and concern.

"How did you come across this information?"

"Major Kunsel told me before I left headquarters. He made me swear to tell you, sir."

Zack nods his head at the medic's words as he wraps Cloud's arm around his waist and firmly grips his wrist. "I see." He looks at Tom and asks, "How is Kunsel?"

"He's fine but he's really worried about you and Private Strife, sir." He looks back up at Zack with a worried expression on his face and says, "Please be careful, sir."

The ex-SOLDIER gives Tom a smile full of reassurance and confidence. "Don't worry about us, buddy. We'll be alright." Once Zack sees the bright lights from the approaching helicopter, he has no choice but to speed away.

They soon find their way to the main road, Zack keeps heading straight because he knows that Midgar is in this direction.

"Ngh," Cloud moans in a tone that sounds angry.

Zack slightly raises an eyebrow when he hears his friend's moan. He sighs when he suddenly feels Cloud's body tense up. He knows that's Cloud's way of expressing anger in his condition. He decides to ask anyway to make sure, "Are you mad?"

Just as Zack asked that question, Cloud lets out a low growl through closed lips. Yes, he's definitely mad at Zack for leaving him earlier.

Zack keeps his eyes locked on the road in front of him. "Hey, don't be angry with me. You know that I would never leave a friend behind."

Without warning, a bright light shines down on them. Zack turns his head to catch a glimpse of a helicopter with Gun and Rude inside of it following them. 'They were buggin' me earlier just before I permanently borrowed this motorcycle after I left Cloud,' he thinks to himself. He speeds up after he sees a tunnel up ahead. "See ya later!" he taunts with a smirk as he speeds into the underground tunnel. Now that they've lost them for a while hopefully, they can finally focus on just one thing; getting to Midgar alive. A few minutes later, the tunnel ends.

* * *

After driving on this road for a couple of hours, their vehicle slowly comes to a stop. Glancing at the meter, Zack realizes that they're out of gas. With an annoyed moan, he recalls, "Wow, first our motorcycle that Cissnei gave us got blown up, then our boat got destroyed and sank, now we finally got us another nice motorcycle...and it's out of gas." He turns his head and looks at his friend. "Cloud, I'm really starting to think that fate just doesn't want us to have a vehicle."

He climbs off of the motorcycle and grabs Cloud. "I guess we'll just have to walk the rest of the way." Annoyed at the motorcycle for running out of gas before they reached Midgar, Zack roughly kicks it which puts a large dent in it.

Zack begins walking on the side of the road while half-carrying Cloud. It's not long at all until Cloud starts breathing heavy again. The former infantryman begins to let out soft groans as he struggles to take steps and his feet begin to drag across the ground some in between steps. His feet and his legs are so sore from being on the run from early morning to late at night. He feels like he may have reached a breaking point because he feels as if he's about to pass out at any second. He manages to weakly bury the side of his face into Zack's shoulder and lets out soft and weak whimpers. Zack slightly tightens his grip on him before he tells him in a compassionate tone, "Hold on, Cloud." His younger best friend weakly nuzzles his shoulder in response. He'll continue doing his best to 'hold on' because he needs to for his best friend and Zack has also told him to.

They were only walking for about ten minutes when a large tan colored truck suddenly stops beside them to see if they need help. "Hey, you boys need a lift?"

The ex-SOLDIER can't help but smile after hearing the man's offer because he feels tired from doing so much walking and fighting from early morning to late evening.

Zack turns his head to see a middle-aged man sitting in the driver's seat. "Yeah." He walks over to the passenger window and asks, "Are you going to Midgar?"

To Zack's relief, the driver nods before answering, "Sure am." His eyes falls on Cloud. "What's wrong with him?"

Zack looks down at his friend. Zack's smile fades away when he sees how exhausted the former infantryman looks. Cloud's mostly leaning on him and he's still breathing heavy. He turns his attention back on the driver. "He's sick."

A look of concern finds its way on the driver's face before he finally says, "I'll take you boys there. Hop in the back."

"Thank you, sir." Zack smiles as he walks towards the back of the truck. He gives his friend a big smile before telling him, "We finally got a ride." He scoops up his friend and leaps into the back of the truck.

Cloud softly grunts when Zack sits him down in the back of the truck.

Zack unsheathes his Buster Sword and lays it down beside him as he sits down beside his younger friend. He smiles when he sees that the truck is moving now. "It feels really nice to actually sit back and relax, huh Cloud?"

"Ungh," Cloud grunts when he feels Zack grab him and gently pull him close to him.

The former SOLDIER kindly smiles down at his friend. "You're not still mad at me are ya, buddy?"

The ex-infantryman wishes that he can come out and apologize by talking. He doesn't like getting mad at Zack and he can never bring himself to stay angry with him for too long. Cloud gazes up at him with glazed over eyes before he slowly turns his head some and gently nuzzles the side of his face into his older friend's chest, doing his best to use body language instead of words.

Of course, Zack's been around him long enough to understand what his friend means and he accepts his apology. He gives his friend a cheerful smile and wraps his arms around Cloud as he replies with his own apology, "I'm sorry too, okay? I know that I shouldn't have left you like that and I promise that it won't happen again."

Cloud manages to give Zack a small smile to show him that he also accepts his apology, causing Zack to return an even bigger smile of his own.

After hearing his and Cloud's stomach growl, Zack turns his head in the driver's direction and asks, "Hey, do you have any food or water up there?"

The driver reaches over and grabs a small lunchbox that's sitting beside him in the empty passenger seat. "Yeah, here!" he shouts as he opens the window in the back of the truck. Turning the lunchbox sideways to fit between the bars, he hands it over to Zack.

"Thanks." Zack gives him a thankful smile as he grabs the box. He eagerly sits it down in front of him and opens it up to view the contents inside. "An orange and an unopened bottle of water," he informs his friend. "Hey Cloud," he looks at the former infantryman as he continues to ask, "You like oranges right?"

Cloud remains silent as he continues to stare downwards with unblinking eyes.

Zack gently pats him on the shoulder as he asks in a kind voice, "Cloud?" Zack can't help but smile when he sees Cloud finally blink his eyes a few times after hearing his name. He decides to ask again, "Do you like oranges?"

Through closed lips, Cloud replies the only way that he's able to, "Mmm." Yeah, he likes oranges. He's clueless as to how to eat one right now because he can't chew in his current condition. Well, Zack will think of something, he always does.

Zack lets out a soft laugh before telling his best friend, "Yeah, that's right." He rubs his stomach as he mimics what Cloud said, "Mmm," he stops rubbing his stomach before adding, "oranges are good."

After peeling the orange, the ex-SOLDIER lets out a soft chuckle as he positions Cloud to where the back of the blonde's head is resting on his chest. "Whew, you're heavy." He chuckles again before adding, "I'm just kidding, man. You're not heavy, you're actually a little bit smaller than me," he gently pats his friend on the chest as he continues, "but not by much."  
After squeezing out the seeds and biting off and consuming the end, Zack holds an orange slice up to Cloud's mouth and orders, "Hey Cloud, open wide."

Cloud manages to slightly part his lips, but for some reason he finds it difficult to part his teeth. Zack leans over some and notices that Cloud's trying to cooperate with him, but is clearly too weak to.

"Oh, hold on," the former SOLDIER says as he reaches down and gently grabs his friend's bottom jaw, attempting to help him open his mouth so that he can feed him. Having no success at trying to open the blonde's mouth that way, Zack decides to try another tactic. Of course, he could've gotten his mouth opened that way if he applied more force, but the last thing that he wants to do is hurt him. He releases Cloud's jaw before telling him, "I'm just gonna try and get your mouth open, okay? Please don't bite me." The former SOLDIER begins to gently push two of his fingers in the blonde's mouth to try to pry his teeth open. Unsure of what Zack's doing, Cloud begins to weakly shake his head back and forth.

"It's okay," he tells him, trying to calm him down some. After a few seconds, Zack removes his fingers once he manages to part his teeth and open his mouth. Now that Cloud's mouth is open, Zack holds the orange slice up to his lips. He knows that Cloud can't eat the actual orange, but he can still drink the sweet juicy nectar inside. After Cloud gets done drinking that, Zack eats the rest of the orange slice. They continue doing that until the orange is gone. The ex-SOLDIER grabs the water bottle and tells his younger best friend, "Here. You can use some water." Cloud immediately takes a few gulps of water before Zack suddenly pulls the water bottle away from him to remind the blonde, "Don't drink so fast, okay? You'll make yourself sick." After several normal drinks of water, it doesn't take long at all for Cloud to fall asleep in Zack's arms. Zack smiles at him as he gently lays him down on his side. The ex-SOLDIER lays down beside him as his eyelids begin to feel heavy from feeling so tired.

Zack soon rolls over on his side, bumping Cloud's arm by accident. "Sorry, buddy," he apologizes. Zack soon realizes something, 'Hmm, hang on. He feels a little bit cold.' He wraps an arm around his friend's stomach from behind and gently pulls him close to help keep him warm. Zack can't help but find it odd at how Cloud didn't make a sound when he pulled him close. When Zack does that, Cloud usually grunts or something.  
Zack soon begins to feel concerned when he doesn't feel the blonde's stomach move up and down while breathing. The older man quickly sits up and looks down at his friend, his eyes are closed and he's not moving. He looks like he's sleeping. The ex-SOLDIER maneuvers his hand past Cloud's arm and gently places it on his friend's chest, feeling for a heartbeat.

Zack's mouth drops open and his eyes widen in sheer terror when he's unable to find a heartbeat. Rolling the blonde over on his back, Zack begins to pat Cloud on the sides of his face as he says in a loud voice, "Cloud, can you hear me? I need you to wake up." He soon grabs him by the shoulders and begins to gently yet firmly shake him. Despite Zack's efforts, Cloud remains completely motionless. He knows what to do, but he needs for Cloud to be lying on a hard and flat surface and the back of this truck is not flat.

Zack turns his head towards the driver. "Hey, pull over!" He begins pounding his fist on the truck close to the back window.

The driver turns his head and shouts back, "Why?"

While holding onto his friend's lifeless body, he shouts, "Just stop the truck!"

Feeling that this is an urgent situation, the driver slams on the brakes, sending dirt flying around the tires.

Zack scoops up Cloud and leaps out of the truck before it even comes to a complete stop. Seeing Zack carrying Cloud with a horrified look on his face, the driver asks, "What happened?"

Zack swallows hard, barely managing to fight back the urge to burst out crying, he answers in a shaky voice, "He's...he's not breathing." Zack gently lays Cloud down flat on his back on the dirt covered ground on the side of the road about ten feet away from the truck. Although it's dark outside, he's still able to see due to his enhanced vision almost as if it were daylight.

Gently tilting the blonde's head back, Zack pinches the blonde's nostrils closed before he begins giving him CPR. Zack blows one full breath into Cloud's mouth, followed by another breath five seconds later. The ex-SOLDIER repeats the process several more times when Cloud shows no signs of breathing.

Since the driver doesn't know CPR, he sits down beside Zack during this time. He feels terrible that he's not able to help, but the young man next to him obviously knows what he's doing.

"Come on, Cloud," Zack orders in a loud voice as if he's trying to guide him back to him. He soon begins chest compressions. After about a minute or two of repeating the steps of CPR, to Zack's horror, Cloud's still not breathing. Tears begin to form in Zack's eyes as the feeling of devastating grief begins to set in. His tears begin stinging his eyes as they trail down his cheeks.

The driver's eyes widen in shock at what he's witnessing. While looking down at the blonde, although he's an adult, he looks like a young teenager. He's never seen anyone this young die before. The driver wipes his tears away after he realizes that he's crying.

Refusing to give up on his best friend, Zack continues giving him CPR. Despite all of Zack's attempts, Cloud still remains as lifeless as ever. While giving him more chest compressions, Zack shouts through his sobs, "Breathe Cloud! I'm not giving up on you, so don't you dare give up on me!"

The driver manages to snap out of his shock as he chokes out, "Young man?"

Zack continues giving Cloud CPR as if he didn't hear him.

"He's gone." He affectionately places his hand on Zack's shoulder.

While staying focused on Cloud, Zack quickly pushes his hand away before screaming, "No, he's not! I can save him! I will save him!"

The driver wipes away more of his own tears. "There's nothing more that you can do. Just let him rest."

Feeling his entire world shatter, crash, and fall through around him, Zack gently places his hands on the blonde's shoulders and rests his forehead on Cloud's chest as he continues sobbing so hard that he feels like he's going to pass out with each one. It feels like his soul is being torn out of his body with every single cry and sob that leaves him. His body continues trembling when he feels a gentle hand on his back.

"Is there anything that I can do?" the driver asks in a sympathetic tone.

Zack continues grieving over the loss of his best friend. After a long pause, he finally answers in a sad shaky voice, "If you can't bring him back...then no."

Thinking it's best to leave him alone right now, the driver slowly climbs to his feet. "I'm sorry. I'll be in the truck if you need anything." He returns to the truck.

Zack continues resting his forehead on Cloud's chest as he speaks to him through choked sobs, "You've always been so much more than just my comrade, Cloud. You're my best friend. I've always seen you as my little brother, sometimes, even more as a son." Zack moves his forehead up to Cloud's and gazes down at him through bloodshot eyes and blurred vision from crying so much. "It's not suppose to be like this. You're not suppose to die." He suddenly becomes overwhelmed with choked sobs again.

The ex-SOLDIER scoops him up in his arms and looks down at his best friend's lifeless body. He can't believe that this is happening. He has freed Cloud from the lab, carried him, protected him, and cared for him. Now, after five long years of fighting, the mako poisoning that over ran the inside of his body...has won. Zack gazes down at him and begins to gently rock back and forth, as if he's cradling his young son to sleep.

Zack soon lays Cloud back down on the ground after feeling the strong urge to keep trying to revive him. "Cloud, I'm begging you, please come back." He wipes away his tears before he adds, "Please don't leave me."

Zack tries giving him CPR again. After another attempt of breathing his life into him, Zack starts doing more chest compressions. After what feels like an eternity, Cloud finally draws in a deep breath before weakly coughing soon after. Zack's tears of grief instantly becomes tears of joy when he sees that Cloud's alive and breathing again. Zack keeps his eyes intently locked on Cloud as the blonde slowly opens his eyes to see two glowing blue eyes staring down at him, he almost instantly realizes that it's Zack.

A dazed look of confusion slowly finds its way on Cloud's face after noticing that Zack looks like he's been crying a lot. Why is he sad? What's going on? Did Cloud do something wrong? What happened? He remembers going to sleep and then he saw a bright light and he felt just about every positive emotion that there is. He also heard his mother's voice, like she was calling him home. Now everything is dark and green again.

Zack gently grabs Cloud and holds him close. He soon finds himself looking up at the starry night sky and saying in a grateful tone, "Thank you." A deep wave of relief suddenly washes over Zack as he continues holding his best friend in his arms. The ex-SOLDIER gives Cloud a big and cheerful smile, followed by a highly protective and gentle hug. "I love you, Cloud." He gently scoops him up in his arms and begins carrying him back to the truck. The driver is shocked to see that Cloud's alive. After getting back in the truck, they leave and continue heading for Midgar.

**Okay, there's Chapter 10. I hope that you all like it and please review/comment to let me know what you all think about it. With this being the last and final chapter of this story, I would like to thank everyone who read and reviewed throughout the story. I will go back and edit these chapters and try and fix them up a bit better. Thank you to everyone who reviewed all of the chapters and thank you to everyone who didn't leave as many reviews. I'm grateful to everyone who did review and read this story. Thank you. Hopefully the ending wasn't too dramatic, I know that it probably was but while I was typing this I thought that it could use some more drama. I guess that I also kinda wanted to show how Zack would act if something bad happened to his buddy, Cloud. Of course, I like Cloud and Zack along with the other FF7 characters a lot, so I could never have them die in any of my stories, not permanently anyways. And with the whole CPR process towards the end, I've never taken CPR classes and I'm no doctor. So with that part I was using a little first-aid booklet that I have that has the steps of CPR. I just thought I'd say that in case I messed up with the steps or something. Anyways thank you everyone who reviews, and/or took the time to read this. Thank you.**


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